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OSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




I. A GLANCE AT ITS HISTORY. 

BOSTON was originally "by the Indians called Shawmutt," 
but the colonists of 1630, wandering southward from their land- 
ing-place at Salem, named it Trimountaine. Charlestown, which 
was occupied by them in July, 1630, was speedily abandoned because 
there was found no good spring of water, and the peninsula close 
by having been bought 6f its sole inhabitant, the settlement was 
transferred thither on the 7tli of September, 0. S. (17tli N. S.). 
On the same day the court held at Charlestown ordered that Trimountaine be called 
Boston. This name was given to it in memory of Boston in Old England, from 
which many of the colonists had emigrated, and which was the former home of 
Mr. Isaac Johnson, next to Governor Winthrop the most important man among 
the band of emigrants. The name of Trimountaine, which has been transformed 
into Tremont, was peculiarly appropriate. As seen from Charlestown, the peninsula 
seemed to consist of three high hills, 

afterwards named Copp's, Beacon, and — =^ ~^ ^^ 

Fort. And the highest of the three was — =f^ 

itself a trimountain, having three sharp ^ 

little peaks. It seems to be agreed that 
this peculiarity of Beacon Hill was what 
gave to the place its ancient name. 

The first settler in Boston was Mr. 
William Blaxton, or Blackstone, who 
had lived here several years when the 
Massachusetts Colony Avas formed. Soon 
after selling the land to the new company 
of immigrants, he withdrew to the place 
which now bears his name, the town of Blackstone, on the border of Rhode Island. 







MR. BLACKSTONE S HOUSE. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by James R. Osgood & Co., in the 
Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
1 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



Boston was selected as the centre and metropolis of the Massachusetts Colony. 
The nucleus of the Colony was large, and the several towns lying along the coast 
were, considering the circumstances, rapidly settled. During the year 1630 as many 
as fifteen hundred persons came from England. In ten years not less than tAven- 

ty thousand had 
been brought 
over. The records 
show that in 1639 
there was a mus- 
ter in Boston of 
the militia of the 
Colony to the num- 
ber of a thousand 
able - bodied and 
well-armed men. 
It is impossible to 
learn accurately 
the population of 
Boston at any time 
during the first 
century after its 
settlement, since 
no enumeration 
was made ; but 
there is authority 
for the statement 
that in 1674 there 
were about fifteen 
hundred families 
in the town, and 
the population of 
New England was 
then reckoned at 
one hundred and 
twenty thousand. 
The early histo- 
ry of Boston has 
been an almost in- 
exhaustible field 
for the researches 
of local antiqua- 
ries. Considering that almost three quarters of a century elapsed before the first 
newspaper was printed, the materials for making a complete account of the events 
that occurred, and for forming a connect estimate of the habits and mode of life 
of the people, are remarkably abundant. The records have been searched to good 
purpose. Still it is to visitors that we are indebted for some of the most quaint 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 3 

and interesting pictures of early !N'ew England life. An English traveller, named 
Edward Ward, published in London in 1699 an account of his trip to New 
England, in which he describes the customs of Bostonians in a lively manner, and 
jjerhaps with a degi'ee of truthfulness, though some parts of the story are evidently 
exaggerated Mr. Ward thought it a great hardship that "Kissing a Woman in 
Public, tho' offer'd as a Courteous Salutation," should be visited Avith the heavy 
punishment of whipping for both the offenders. There were even then "stately 
Edifices, some of which have cost the owners two or three Thousand Pounds sterling," 
and this fact Mr. Ward rather illogically conceived to prove the truth of two old 
adages, "That a Fool and his Money is soon parted ; and, Set a Beggar on Horseback 
he '11 ride to the Devil ; for the Fathers of these Men were Tinkers and Peddlers." He 
seemed to have a very low opinion of the religious and moral character of the people. 
;Mr. Daniel Neal, who wrote a book a few years later, found "the conversation in this 
town as polite as in most of the cities and towns in England," and he describes the 
houses, furniture, tables, and dress as being quite as splendid and showy as those of 
the most considerable tradesmen in London. 

But while we find such abundant means of ji^dging the people of Boston, hardly a 
vestige of the town as it appeared to the earliest settlers remains. We have, it is 
true, in a good state of preservation still, the three most ancient burial-grounds of 
the towTi ; half a dozen very old trees remain ; about as many buildings. Some of the 
narrow and crooked streets at the North End have retained their early devious course, 
but generally appear upon the map under changed names. Nothing else of Boston 
in its first century is preserved. The face of the country has been completely trans- 
formed. The hills have been cut down, and the flats surrounding the peninsula have 
been filled so that it is a peninsula no longer. Place side by side a map of Boston 
as it appeared in 1722, and the latest map, and any resemblance between them can 
hardly be traced. The old water line has disappeared completely. On the east, the 
west, and the south, nearly a thousand acres once covered by the tide have been re- 
claimed, and are now covered with streets, dwellings, and warehouses. 

It would be interesting to dwell upon the early history of Boston, and to discover 
indications of the gradual formation of the New England character, but all this 
curious study must be left to the historian. A few facts and dates only can find a 
place here. Boston was from the first a commercial town. Less than a year had 
elapsed since the settlement of the town when the first vessel built in the colony was 
launched. We may infer something in regard to the activity of the foreign and 
coasting trade from the statement of Mr. Neal, before referred to, that "the masts 
of ships here, and at proper seasons of the year, make a kind of Avood of trees like 
that we see upon the river of Thames about JFajjping and LimeJiousc" ; and the same 
author says that twenty-four thousand tons of shipping were at that time, 1719, 
cleared annually from the port of Boston. It was not until four years after the 
settlement of the town that a shop was erected separate from the dwelling of the 
proprietor. In these early days the merchants of Boston met with many reverses, 
and wealth was acquired but slowly in New England generally. Nevertheless, the 
toAVTi was on the Avhole prosperous. In 1741 there were forty vessels upon the stocks 
at one time in Boston, showing that a quick demand for shipping existed at that 
period. At the close of the seventeenth century, Boston was ^jrobably the largest 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




FIRST CFILKCH IN BOSTON 



and wealthiest town in America, and it has ever since retained its rank among the 
very first towns on the continent. 

The colonists brought their minister with them, — the Rev. John Wilson, who 
vas ordained pastor of the church in Charlestown, and afterwards of the church in 
= Boston. But the meeting-house was not 

built until 1632. This building was 
very small and very plain, within and 
without. It is believed to have stood 
nearly on the spot where Brazer's Build- 
ing now stands, near the Old State 
House, in State Street. In 1640 the 
same society occupied a new, much larger 
and finer building, which stood on the 
site now occupied by Joy's Building on 
Washington Street. This second edifice 
stood seventy -one years, and was destroyed by fire in 1711. The *' First 
Church " removed a few years ago from Chauncy Street to its present very elegant 
church building on Berkeley Street. Several other churches were established very 
soon after the "First," and there are now in existence as many as nine church 
organizations dating back to the first hundred years after the i)lace was settled. The 
fathers of the town were sternly religious, 
outwardly at all events. The evidences are 
abundant that they were also zealous for 
education. The influence of Harvard Col- 
lege, in Cambridge, was strong upon Bos- 
ton from the first ; but a public school had 
been voted by the town in 1635, three years 
before Harvard was founded. We have seen 
the testimony of an Englishman as to the 
polished manners, intelligence, and educa- 
tion of the inhabitants of Boston, and this 
evidence is confirmed by our OAvn records 
and by the long line of eminent clergy- 
men, writers, and orators born in the town. 

It was here that the first newspaper-^ 
ever published on the American continent, 
the "Boston News Letter," ajipeared on 
the 24th of April, 1704. Two years later 




BIRTHPLACE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



the first great New England journalist, and afterwards a philosopher, statesman, 
and diplomatist, was born in a little house that stood near the head of Milk Street, 
and that is still remembered by some of the oldest citizens of Boston. It was 
destroyed by fire at the close of the year 1811, after having stood almost a hundred 
and twenty years. 

The history of the thirty years preceding the Revolution is full of incidents show- 
ing the independent spirit of the inhabitants of Boston, their determination not to 
submit to the unwarrantable interference of the British government in their affairs, 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



and particularly to the unjust taxation imposed upon tlie Colonies, and their willing- 
ness to incur any risks rather than yield to oppression. As early as 1747 there was 
a great riot in Boston, caused by the aggression of British naval officers. Commodore 
Knowles, being short of men, had impressed sailors in the streets of Boston. The 
people made reprisals by seizing some British officers, and holding them as hostages for 
the return of their fellow-citizens. The excitement was very great, but the affair ter- 
minated by the release of the impressed men and the naval officers, the first victory 
registered to the account of the resisting colonists. Twenty years later the town was 
greatly agitated over the Stamp Act ; and hardly had the excitement died away when, 
on March 5, 1770, the famous Boston Massacre took place. The story is familiar 
to every school-boy. The affair originated without any special grievance on either 
side, but the whole population took the part of the mob against the soldiers, showing 
what a deep-seated feeling of hostility existed even then. The scene of tliis massacre 
was the square in King Street, now State Street, below the Old State House. The 
well-known woodcut of the scene shows the r 

State House in the background, but in a 
form quite different from the present. This 
building was erected in 1748, on the site 
occupied by the Town House destroyed by 
fire the year previous. It has long been 
given up to business purposes, the interior 
has been completely remodelled, and the 
edifice surmounted by a roof that has wholly 
destroyed the quaint effect of the original 
architecture. It was in its day, we are 
assured by history, "an elegant building." 
The accompanying picture shows the Old 
State House in its ancient form. How it 
appears to-day may be seen from the view on another page. The funeral of the 
victims of the massacre was attended by an immense concourse of people from 
all parts of New England, and the impression made by the conflict upon the 
patriotic men of that day did not die out until the war of the Revolution had 
begun. The day was celebrated for several years as a memorable anniversary. 
The newspapers of the day did their full share towards keeping up the excite- 
ment. The "Massachusetts Spy," which began publication in Boston in 1770, was 
one of the most earnest of the patriotic press, and two or three years before the be- 
ginning of the war had, at the head of its colunms, an invocation to Liberty, with a 
coarse woodcut of a serpent cut into nine parts, attacked by a dragon. The several 
parts of the serpent were marked "IST. E." for New England, "N. Y.," "N. J.," 
and so on, and above this cut was the motto "Join, or Die." 

The destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor was another evidence of the spirit of 
the people. The ships having "the detested tea" on board arrived the last of 
November and the first of December, 1773. Having kept watch over the ships to 
prevent the landing of any of the tea until the 16th of December, and having 
failed to compel the consignees to send the cargoes back to England, the people were 
holding a meeting on the subject on the afternoon of Ihe 16th, when a formal refusal 




THE OLD STATE-HOUSE. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



by the Governor of a permit for the vessels to pass the castle without a regular cus- 
tom-house clearance was received. The meeting broke up, and the whole assembly 
followed a party of thirty persons disguised as Indians to Griffin's (now Liverpool) 
Wharf, where the chests were broken open and their contents emptied into the dock. 
The secret of the participators in this aifair has been well kept, and it is doubtful 
if any additional light will ever be thrown upon it. It has been claimed, though on 
very doubtful authority, that the plot was concocted in the quaint old building 
that stood until a few years since on the corner of Dock Sij^uare and North (formerly 

Ann) Street. This 
^^-^ "^^-i^^^~S==:--^ -- - - - building was con- 

structed of rough- 
cast in the year 
_^-:/ 1680, after the 

great tire of 1679 ; 
and was until 
1860, when it was 
taken down, one 
of the most curi- 
ous specimens of 
architecture in 
Boston. A cut of 
this old building 
is given, without 
any voucher of the 
tradition that as- 
signs to a certain 
room in it the ori- 
gin of a bold act 
that led to such 
momentous conse- 
quences. 

The people of the town took as prominent a part in the war when it broke out as 
they had taken in the preceding events. They suffered in their commerce and in 
their property by the enforcement of the Boston Port Act, and by the occupation of 
the town by British soldiers. Their churches and burial-grounds were desecrated by 
the English troops, and annoyances without number were put upon them, but they 
remained steadfast through all. General Washington took command of the Ameri- 
can army July 2, 1775, in Cambridge, but for many months there was no favorable 
opportunity for making an attack on Boston. During the winter that followed, the 
people of Boston endured many hardships, but their deliverance was near at hand. 
By a skilful piece of strategy Washington took possession of Dorchester Heights on 
the night of the 4th of March, 1776, where earthworks were immediately thrown up, 
and in the morning the British found their enemy snugly ensconced in a strong 
position both for offence and defence. A fortunate storm prevented the execution of 
General Howe's plan of dislodging the Americans ; and by the 17th of March his 
situation in Boston had become so critical that an instant evacuation of the town 




OLD HOUSE IN DOCK SQUARE. 



BOSTON- ILLUSTRATED. 7 

was imperatively necessary. Before noon of that day the whole British fleet was 
under sail, and General Washington was marching triumphantly into the town. Our 
sketch shows the heights of Dorchester as they appear to-day ; yet it is easy to see . 
from it how completely the position commands the harbor. No attempt was made 




VIEW OF DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. 

by the British to repossess the town. At the close of the war Boston was, if not the 
first town in the country in point of population, the most influential, and it entered 
immediately upon a course of prosperity that has continued with very few interrup- 
tions to the present time. 

The first and most serious of these interruptions was that which began with the 
embargo at the close of the year 1807, and which lasted until the peace of 1815. 
Massachusetts owned, at the beginning of that disastrous term of seven years, one 
third of the shipping of the United States. The embargo was a most serious blow 
to her interests. She did not believe in the constitutionality of the act, nor in its 
wisdom. She believed that the real motives which were assigned for its passage 
were not those alleged by the President and the majority in Congress, and this view 
was confirmed by subsequent events. The war that followed she judged to be a 
mistake, and her discontent was aggravated by the usurpations of the general gov- 
ernment. Nevertheless, in response to the call for troops she sent more men than any 
other State, and New England furnished more than all the slave States that were so 
eager in support of the administration. In all the proceedings of those eventful 
years Boston men were leaders. Holding views that were unpopular, and that many 
deemed unpatriotic, they held them with pluck and persistence to the end. 

Again, in the war of the Rebellion, having been one of the foremost communi- 
ties in the opposition to slavery, Boston Avas again a leader, this time on the popular 



8 BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 

side. In this war, in which she only took part by furnishing men and means to 
carry it on at a distance, and in supporting it by the cheering and patriotic words 
of those who remained at home, lier history is that of Massachusetts. During the 
four years of conflict the cit}' and State responded promptly to every call of every 
nature from the general government, and furnished trooj)s for every department of 
the army, and money in abundance to carry on the Avar and to relieve suffering in 
the field. Boston alone sent into the army and navy no less than 26,119 men, of 
whom 685 were commissioned officers. 

Boston retained its town government until 1822. The subject of changing to thi 
forms of an incorporated city was much discussed as early as 1784, but a vote of the 
town in favor of the change was not carried until January, 1822, when the citizens 
declared, by a majority of about six thousand five hundred out of about fifteen thou- 
sand votes, their preference for a city government. The Legislature passed an act 
incorporating the city in February of the same year, and on the 4th of March the 
charter was formally accepted. The city government, consisting of a mayor, Mr. 
John Phillips, as chief executive officer, and a city council composed of boards of 
eight aldermen and forty-eight common councilmen, was organized on May 1. 

During the last half-century the commercial importance of Boston has experi- 
enced a reasonably steady and constant development, though the great fire of the 9th 
and 10th of November, 1872, is likely to prove something of a check upon her pros- 
perity. The industries of New I^ngland have in that time grown to immense pro- 
portions, and Boston is the natural market and distributing-point for the most of 
them. The increase of population and the still more rapid aggivgation of wealth tell 
the story far more effectively than words can do it. In 1790 the population of the 
town was but eighteen thousand and thirty-three. The combined population of the 
three towns of Boston, Eoxbury, and Dorchester, at intervals of ten years, is given 
in the following table : — 



Tear. Population. 

1800 30,049 

1810 40,386 

1820 51,117 

1S30 70,713 



Year. Population. 

1840 107,347 

1850 163,214 

1860 212,746 

1870 250,526 



The valuation of real and personal property in the last forty years shows a still 
more marvellous increase. The official returns at intervals of five years show : — 

Year. Valuation. 

1855 $241,932,200 



Year. Valuation. 

1835 $79,302,600 

1840 94,581,600 

1845 135,948,700 

1850 180,000,500 



1860 278,861,000 

1865 871,892,775 

1870 584,089,400 

In 1840 the average amount of property owned by each inhabitant of Boston was 
less than nine hundred dollars, but in 1870 it had increased to an average of more 
than twenty-three hundred dollars. And the value of all the property in Boston is 
more than seven times as great as it was thirty-five years ago. 

The gi'owth of Boston has, notA\-ithstanding these very creditable figures, been 
very seriously retarded by the lack of room for expansion. Until the era of rail- 
roads it was impracticable for gentlemen doing business in Boston to live far from 



jQ BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 

its coi-porate li.uits. Accordingly it was necessary to " "^f" /""'i " '^J' f "/"« 'J;j 
flats as soon as the dimensions ot the peninsula began to be too contracted for the 
population, and business gathered upon it. Some very old maps show how early 
this enlargement was commenced ; and hardly any two of these anerent hart 
a»ree During the present century very great progress has been made. AH the 
otd ponds, co'^cs, aid crcehs have been filled in, and on the -^ and south- 
west the connection with the mainland has been so widened hat rt is now 
as broad as the broadest part of the original peninsula ; and the work no 
vet finished. In other respects the improvements have been immense^ All the 
h lis l"ve been cut down, and one of them has been ^t'-^.^ ---f . . f^^^'^^' 
which were formerly so narrow and crooked as to give point to the joke that they 
:' layout upon the paths made by the cows in going to pasture, have been 
Zidened. straighLied, and graded. Whole districts covered with ^uUd-gs of ta^ 
and stone have been raised, with the structures upon *-»• ™-)^ f^ . 1"^^^^^ 
has extended its authority over the island, once known as Noddle s Island, now East 
Boston wlLh was almost uninhabited and unimproved until its pure nise on specu- 
lation n 1830 ; over South Boston, once Dorchester Neck, annexed to Boston in 
C "id finally, by legislative acts and the consent of tlie ««-- over the — 
municipalities of Roxbury and Dorchester. The origmal limits of Boston comprised 
but Ttandred and ninety acres. By filling in flats eight hundred and eighty 
acres havcTen added. By the absorption of South and East Boston and by fiU.ng 
rflats:™::ding these Ltricts seventeen hundred aci^smor^werea^^^^^^^^^ 
Koxburv contributed twenty-one hundred acres, and Dorchester foity-elght hundiea. 
?:fent r;'::™* a^a of the city is therefore ten thousand one ^^^^^^^f^^^l 
acres, - nearly fifteen times as great as the original area Meanwhile the "unl^ o^ 
railroads radiating from Boston and reaching to -l»'f ^;";y ""-^S^" *'" *,f^ 
m es have rendered it possible for business men to make their homes far away f.om 
«;ir'crnting.rooms. By this means scores of suburban ^^^'^^^^^JZ^ 
tent and beauty by those sunounding any other gi-eat city f ^cj^' J' ^^^ ^'^ " 
built up, and the value of property in all the eastern part of M'^^; >'^^^'%';™ 
very lately enhanced. These towns are most intimately conneced..th Bo on 
bulness and social relations, and ift a sense f"™ » 1-' "f "^'^ ^, ;,,* h 
theory that has led to the annexation of Eoxbury -'\ torches e, «, and w toh 
will undoubtedly lead at no distant day to the absorption of °'^ -"^ ^ ^f^ X. 
ing cities and towns, in some ot which we shall 6"^ Places and ob ect. o be lU us 
trated and described. The relation of these towns to Boston .. shown m the plan 
on the preceding page. 





BOSTON ILLUSTRATED, \l 

■^^^ LIBRAE ... , 

iS;^p01L-=i II. THE NORTH END. 

HE extension of the limits of Boston and the movement of business and 
jiop Illation to the southward have materially changed the meaning at- 
tached to the term North End. In the earliest days of the town, the Mill 
Creek separated a part of the town from the mainland, and all to the north 
of it was properly called the North End. For our present purpose we include in that 
division of the city all the territory north of State, Court, and Cambridge Streets. 
This district is, perhaps, the richest in historical associations of any part of Boston. 
It was once the most important part of the town, containing not only the largest 
warehouses and the public buildings, but the most aristocratic (quarter for dwelling- 
houses. But this was a long time ago. A large part of the North End proper has been 
abandoned by all residents except the poorest and most vicious classes. Among the 
important streets may be mentioned Commercial, with its solidly built warehouses, 
and its great establishments for the sale of grain, ship-chandlery, fish, and other 
articles ; Cornhill, once the head-quarters of the book-trade, and still devoted 
largely to the same business ; the streets radiating from Dock Square, crowded with 
stores for the sale of cutlery and hardware, meats, wines, gi'oceries, fruit, tin, copper 
and iron-ware, and other articles of household use ; and Hanover, lately widened, 
and now as fomierly a great market for cheap goods of all descriptions. Elsewhere 
in this district are factories for the production of a variety of articles, from a match 
to a tombstone, from a set of furniture to a church bell. 

There are but a few relics remaining of the North End of the olden time. The 
streets have been straightened and widened, and go under different names from those 
first given them, and most of the ancient buildings have fallen to decay and been re- 
moved. Among such as are still left to us, the most conspicuous and the most famous 
is old Faneuil Hall, the "Cradle of Liberty." This building was a gift to the town by 
Mr. Peter Faneuil. For more than twenty j^ears before its erection the need of a pub- 
lic market had been felt, but the town would never vote to build one. In 1740 JNIr. 
Faneuil offered to build a market at his own expense, and give it to the town, if a 
vote should be passed to accept it, and keep it open under suitable regulations. 
This noble offer was accepted by the town, after a hot discussion, by a narrow major- 
ity of seven. The building was erected in 1742 ; and only five years later the oppo- 
sition to the market-house system was so powerful that a vote was carried to close the 
market. From that time until 1761 the question whether the market should be oi)en 
or not was a fruitful source of discord in local politics, each party to the contest scor- 
ing several victories. In the last-named year Faneuil Hall was destroyed by fire. 
This seems to have turned the current of popular opinion in favor of the market, for 
the town immediately voted to rebuild it. In 1805 it was enlarged to its present size. 
From the time the Hall was first built until the adoption of the city charter hi 1822, 
all town meetings were held within its walls. In the stirring events that preceded 
the Revolution it was put to frequent use. The spirited speeches and resolutions ut- 



12 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




FANEUIL HALL AND OL'INCY ^L■^RK;ET. 



tered and adopted within it were a most potent agency in exciting the patriotism of 
all the North American colonists. In every succeeding great crisis in our country's 
history, thousands of citizens have assembled beneath this roof to listen to the patri- 
otic eloquence of their leaders and counsellors. The great Hall is peculiarly lifted 
for popular assemblies. It is seventy-six feet square and twenty-eight feet high, and 
possesses admiiable acoustic properties. The floor is left entirely destitute of seats, 
by which means the capacity of the hall, if not the comfort of audiences, is greatly 
increased. Numeroiis large and valuable portraits adorn the walls, — an original full- 
length painting of Washington, by Stuart ; another of the donor of the building, 
Peter Faneuil, by Colonel Henry Sargent ; Healy's great picture of Webster replying 
to Hayne ; excellent portraits of Samuel Adams and the second President Adams ; of 
General Warren and Commodore Preble ; of Edward Everett, Abraham Lincoln, and 
John A. Andrew ; and of several others prominent in the history of Massachusetts 
and the Union. The Hall is never let for money, but it is at the disposal of the peo- 
jjle whenever a sufficient number of persons, complying with certain regulations, ask 
to have it opened. The city charter of Boston, which makes but a very few restric- 
tions upon the right of the city government to govern the city in all local affairs, 
contains a wise provision forbidding the sale or lease of this Hall. 

The new Faneuil Hall Market, popularly known as Quincy Market, originated in a 
recommendation by Mayor Quincy in 1823. The corner-stone was laid in April, 1825, 
and the structure was completed in 1827. The building is five hundred and thirty- 
five feet long and fifty feet wide, and is two stories in height. This great mai-ket- 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



13 




house was built at a cost of $ 150,000, upon made land ; and so economically were its 

affairs managed that the improvement, including the opening of six new streets and 

the enlargement of a seventh, was accomplished without the levying of any tax, and 

without any increase of the city's debt. 

Quite at the other extreme of our North End district is situated the only other 

building of a public nature within it to be noticed here, — the Massachusetts General 

Hospital, — a structure of imposing appearance and devoted to most beneficent uses. 

This institution had its origin in a bequest of $5,000 made in 1799, but it was not 

until 1811 that 

the Hospital ^^^^^ Jt^ -^- _ - - - 

was incorporat- 
ed. The State 

endowed it 

with a f e e - 

simple in the 

old Province 

House, which 

was subse- 
quently leased 

for a term of 

ninety-nine 

years. The 

Massachusetts "^"^ Massachusetts general hospital. 

Hospital Life Insurance Company was required by its charter to pay one third of 
its net profits to the Hospital. Large sums of money were raised by private sub- 
scription both before the institution had begun operations and every year since. 

On the 1st of January, 1873, the general fund of the Hospital amounted to 
$908,617 ; the total of restricted funds at the same date being ^ 803, 242. 73. The 
aggregate of funds not invested in real estate was | 895,505.22. During the pre- 
ceding year the income of the corporation was $221,750.30, and the expenses 
amounted to $223,027.90. These figures are for the Hospital proper, and for the 
McLean Asylum for the Insane at Somerville, which is a branch of the institution. 

The handsome gi-anite building west of Blossom Street was erected in 1818, and 
enlarged by the addition of two extensive wings in 1846. The stone of the original 
building was hammered and fitted by the convicts at the State Prison. The system 
on which this noble institution is managed is admirable, in that it is so designed as 
to combine the principles of gratuitous treatment and the payment of their expenses 
by those who are able to do so. The hospital turns none away who come within the 
scope of its operations, while it has room to receive them, however poor they may be. 
It has been greatly aided in its work by the generous contributions and bequests of 
wealthy people. The fund permanently invested to furnisk free beds amounts to 
more than $400,000, and the annual contributions for free beds during the year 
1871 supported one hundred of them at $100 each. To those who are able to pay 
for their board and for medical treatment the charges are in all cases moderate, never 
exceeding the actual expense. During the last year more than seventeen hundred pa- 
tients were treated for a longer or a shorter time, of whom more than three fourths were 



14 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



treated free. This number, however, represents only such as were admitted into the 
hospital ; nearly twelve thousand out-patients also received advice, medicine, or sur- 
gical or dental treatment. It will show more clearly how great good is done precisely 
where it is most needed, if we say that out of 1019 male patients admitted to the 
wards during the year, 763 were classed as mechanics, laborers, seamen, teamsters, 
and servants ; while of 528 female patients, 319 were classed as domestics, seamstresses, 
and operatives. Statistics sometimes tell a story of good work well done more graph- 
ically than pages of eloquent i)raise, and this is true of this noble institution. 

Four of the eight railroads terminating in Boston have their stations in 
this part of the city, — three of them within a stone's throw of each other, on. 
Causeway Street. Our view represents the stations of the Eastern ar.d Fitchburg 
Railroads, with a section of the new Lowell station in the foreground. The 
former is an unpretentious building of brick, erected in 1863, after the destruc- 
tion by fire of 
the former sta- 
tion, and is 
small and inad- 
equate to do the 
immense busi- 
ness which the 
Eastern road has 
built up. Meas- 
ures are now in 
pro(;ress to sub- 
stitute a new 
and larger sta- 
tion. The East- 
ern Eailroad,by 
arrangement 
with the Maine 
Central Rail- 
road, now runs 
its cars through 
to Bangor, Me., 
there making 
close connection 

EASTERN AND FITCHBURG RAILROAD STATIONS. with the Tail- 

road to St. John, New Brunswick. In addition to the extensive through travel thus 
secured, it performs an exceedingly large amount of local business for the cities and 
towns along the coast to Portsmouth. In 1847 the total number of passengers car- 
ried on this line Avas but 651,408. The number carried during the year ending Sep- 
tember 30, 1871, was 4,610,277. 

The station of the Fitchburg Railroad is represented at the extreme right hand 
of our sketch. It was built in 1847, the terminus of the road having previously 
been in Charlestown. In a great hall in the upper part of this structure, two grand 
concerts were given by Jenny Lind in October, 1850, to audiences numbering 




BOSTON ILLUSTHATED. 



15 



on each occasion more than four thousand people. The agents of Mr. Barnum, 
who was at that time paying her |1,000 for each concert, sold, for the second con- 
cert tickets to a thousand more people than could be accommodated. The manager 
was' accordingly obliged to refund the money the next day, to his own chagi-in 
and to the infinite disgust of those who had failed to hear the great Swedish 
singer. Even with the disappointed thousand excluded, the haU was so densely 
packed that very many ladies fainted, and there was at times serious danger of a 
panic. The newspapers of the day remarked with admiration upon the magical 
effect'of Jenny Lind's voice in calming and restoring to order the crowded multitude. 
The Fitchburg Railroad passes through several important suburban towns, and trans- 
acts an extensive local and through business. Upon the completion of the Hoosac 
Tunnel, by which time the entire line to Troy, N. Y., will probably be consolidated, 
it is expected that the Fitchburg road will become a very important route for pas- 
sengers and freight from the West. 

Our sketch of the Lowell Railroad Station is of the station that is to be, and 
that is now nearly finished. When completed it will be inferior in size to very 
few railroad stations in 
the country, and sec- 
ond to none in ele- 
gance and the provis- 
ions made for the com- 
fort of travellers. It 
is seven hundred feet 
long, and has a front of 
two hundred and five 
feet on Causeway Street ; 
the material is face brick 
with trimmings of Nova 
Scotia freestone. The 
engraving shows the el- 
egance of the building ; 
but it cannot display 
the great arch of the 
train -house, which has 
a clear span of one hun- 
dred and tAventy feet 
without any central sup- ^^^-^^^ ^^^ -^^^^ ^^'^"°^" ^™°^- ^ . ^ ^ 

port. This train-house is already in use, and the entire structure will be finished 
during the fall of 1873. The Lowell Railroad, by its connection with routes to. 
Montreal and the West, has secured a very large through business, in addition to its. 
gi-eat and increasing local traffic. 

The Boston and Maine Railroad, alone of all the lines entering the city on the north, 
side, enjoys the privilege of penetrating within the outer street. Its station is m 
Haymarket Square, and the open space in front of it gives prominence to the 
structure. The station has within two or three years been greatly enlarged and im- 
proved, so that it is now, internally, one of the lightest andl pleasantest edifices of the 




16 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



freight 
The 



kind in the 
city. The Maine 
road has a very- 
large local bu- 
siness, serving 
the towns of 
Maiden, Mel- 
rose, Heading, 
Wakefield, and 
Andover, and 
the cities of 
Haverhill and 
Lawrence. An 
extension of the 
Maine Road 
from South Ber- 
wick to Port- 
land has been 
built, and was 
opened for pas- 

HAYMARKET SQUARE. 1 

^ senger and 

business in March, 1873. 

old North Buryiug-ground, on Copp's Hill, was the second established in the 
Its original limits, when fiist used for inteiments in 1660, A\cie much smaller 





copp's hill burying-ground. 
than now, and the enclosure did not reach its present size until about forty years ago. 
Like most of the remaining relics of the early times, this burial-ground bears traces 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



17 



of the Revolutionary contest. The British soldiers occupied it as a military station, 
and used to amuse themselves by firing bullets at the gravestones. The marks made 
in this sacrilegious sport may still be discovered by careful examination of the stones. 
One of these most defaced is that above the grave of Captain Daniel Malcom, which 
bears an inscription speaking of him as "a true son of Liberty a Friend to 

THE PUBLICK AN EnEMY TO OPPRESSION AND ONE OF THE FOREMOST IN OPPOS- 
ING THE Revenue Acts on America." 

This refers to a bold act of Captain Malcom, in landing a valuable cargo of wines, in 
1768, without paying the duty upon it. This was done in the night under the guard 
of bands of men armed with clubs. It would be called smuggling at the present 
day, but when committed it was deemed a laudable and patriotic act, because the 
tax was regarded as unjust, oppressive, and illegal. The most noted persons whose 
bodies repose Avithin this enclosure were undoubtedly the three Reverend Doctors 
Mather, — Increase, Cotton, and Samuel ; but there are many curious and interest- 
ing inscriptions to read, which would well repay a visit. The burying-ground is 
even now a favorite place of resort in the warmer months, and the gates stand hos- 
pitably open to callers, though they have long been closed against the admission of 
new inhabitants. It is to the credit of the city, that, when it became necessary in 
the improvement of that section of the city to cut down the hill to some extent, 
the burying- 
ground w^as left 
untouched, and 
the embankment 
protected by a 
high stone-Avall. 

Two of the 
leading hotels of 
Boston are in 
this district of 
the city. The 
American House, 
on Hanover St., 
is the largest 
public house in 
New England, 
and one of the 
best. Its exter- 
nal appearance 
has been very 
greatly improved 
by the recent 
widening of Han- 
over Street. It 
covers the sites 
of four former 
hotels, — Earle's, 




18 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



tlie Merchcants*, the Hanover, and the old American Houses. It was rebuilt in 
1851, and numerous additions have been made since. The interior has also been 
completely remodelled within a few years, and many of the rooms are exceedingly 
eh^gant, while the furniture of the house is throughout handsome and substantial. 
A splendid passenger elevator was added to the house when it was refitted, and as 
the furnishing of the rooms is uniform on all the floors, the highest rooms are as 
desirable as those on the second story. The grand dining-room is an immense hall, 
capable of seating at one time more than three hundred people ; when lighted at 
night it is one of the most brilliant halls in Boston, having at either end mammoth 
mirrors reaching from the floor to the ceiling. The American has long been a 
favorite resort for strangers in the city on business, and it is practically the head- 
(puirters of the shoe and leather trade. It has been under one management for 
thirty-five years. 

The Eevere House is not strictly within the limits of the district we have drawn, 
but it is separated from that district only by the width of a single street. It is a 

building of fine ap- 
pearance, as will be 
seen from our sketch. 
It was erected by 
the Massachusetts 
( 'haritable Mechanic 
Association, and was 
for a long time under 
the management of 
the veteran Paran 
Stevens. It was, of 
c u r s e, n a m e d in 




memory of Paul Re- 
vere, the patriotic 
mechanic of Boston 
before and during the 
Kevolution, and the 
first president of the 
Charitable Mechanic 
Association. Colonel 
Revere Avas a com- 
panion and fellow- 
worker with Samuel 
Adams, James Otis, Joseph Warren, and others of the leaders of opinion in the days 
of Standi and Tea Acts. He helped the cause in various ways, — by engraving 
with friendly but unskilful hand the portraits of Adams and others ; by casting 
church bells to be rung and cannon to be fired ; by printing paper money, which 
was, however, neither a valuable currency nor a commendable work of art ; bywords 
and deeds of patriotism that entitle him to grateful remembrance by all Americans. 
The versatile colonel appears in the first Directory of Boston, for 1789, as a gold- 
smith doing business at No. 50 Cornhill, — now Washington Street. The hotel 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



19 



which bears his name has entertained more distinguished men than any other in 
Boston. The Prince of Wales occupied apartments in the Revere on his visit to 
the city twelve years ago. President Grant has been a guest of the house, and in 
the winter of 1871 it was the head-quarters of the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia. 
The Revere is situated in Bowdoin Square. 

During the past two years one of the old landmarks of the north part of the city has 
been in process of demolition. The church in Brattle Square was long known as the 
Manifesto Church, the original members having put; forth in 1699, just before their 
church was dedicated, a document declaring their aims and purposes. While 
themselves adopting _^ 

the belief which was 
then universal among 
the Congi-egational 
churches of the time, 
they conceded the 
right of difference of 
belief among the 
members. What 
Congregational 
churches were to 
those ruled by ec- 
clesiastical supe- 
riors, or by con- 
vocations, the indi- 
vidual member of the 
Manifesto Church 
was to be to the mem- 
bers of other Con- 
gregational church- 
es, and the distinc- 
tion between church 
and congregation was 
abolished. Expect- 
ing a difficulty in 
getting ordained in ^^attu^ square church. 

Boston, their first minister was ordained in London. The modest church edifice built 
in 1699 was taken down in 1772, and the building just demolished, erected on the same 
spot, was dedicated on the 25th of July, 1773. During the Revolution the pastor, who 
was a patriot, was obliged to leave Boston, services were suspended, and the British 
soldiery used the building as a barrack, A cannon-ball from a battery in Cam- 
bridge or from a ship of war in Charles River struck the church ; and this me- 
mento of the glorious contest was afterwards built into the external wall of the 
church, above the porch. Among the long line of eminent clergymen who have 
been pastors of this church, may be mentioned the late Edward Everett, who is so 
much better known as a statesman than as a minister that the fact of his having 
been a clergyman is frequently forgotten. The old church was sold in 1871, and the 




20 



BOS TON ILL US TEA TED. 



last service was held in it July 30 of that year, a memorial sermon being preached 
on that occasion by the pastor, the Eev. Dr. S. K. Lothrop. The ancient pulpit, the 
old bell, the organ, the historic cannon-ball, and some other mementoes, were re- 
served at the sale. The society is now erecting a large and elegant structure at the 
corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Clarendon Street. 

The oldest church in the city is Christ Church, Episcopal, on Salem Street. The 
Episcopalian denomination was for a long time of slow growth in Boston ; but in 

1723, notwithstanding the 
enlargement of King's Chap- 
el, then a soci( ty of the 
Church of England, in 1710 
the number of Church peo- 
ple was so laige that it Avas 
necessary to found a new so- 
ciety. The corner-stone was 
laid in April, 1723, and the 
church was dedicated in De- 
cember of the same year. 
This is the first and only 
building ever occupied by the 
society. During the Revo- 
lution, the rector of Christ 
Church, the Eev. Mather 
Byles, Jr., left the town on 
account of his sympathy with 
the royal cause. The steeple 
of this church is a very prom- 
inent landmark, and is one 
of the most noticeable fea- 
tures in approaching the 
city from the harbor. It is, 
however, but a copy, as ac- 
curate as could be made, of 
the original steeple, which 
was blown down in the great gale of October, 1804. The toAver contains a fine chime 
of eight bells, upon which have been rung joyful and mournful peals for more than 
a century and a quarter. 

Only one of the great daily newspapers of the city is published within the North 
End district, — the Daily Advertiser. The Advertiser is the oldest daily paper in 
Boston, having nearly reached the sixtieth year of continuous publication. It is a 
little curious that the site noAV occupied by the Advertiser as a permanent home, 
after a protracted period of migration, is that from which James Franklin issued the 
first number of the New England Courant, in 1721. The same spot was again occu- 
pied by a printing-office in 1776, by the Independent Chronicle, which was suspended 
during the Revolution. The Advertiser has succeeded to the rights of the Chronicle, 
and therefore considers that when it took possession of its present building, in 1867, 




CHRIST CHURCH, SALEM STREET. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



21 



— a building, by the way, admirably suited to its ])ui-pose, — it merely returned to its 
first home. The first number of the Daily Advertiser ever published thus announced 
the character of the paper: " The predominant feature of the Daily Advertiser will 
be commercial, — yet it ■will be by no means destitute of a political character." This 
promise it has kept 
strictly. At times 
it has fallen behind 
some of its contem- 
poraries in enter- 
prise, but within the 
last eight or ten 
years it has resumed 
once more its old 
place among the 
foremost journals of 
New England. 

At the head of 
Washington Street, 
in a most conspicu- 
ous position, stands 
the great printing 
establishment of 
Rand, Avery, & Co. 
The oflice was estab- 
lished many years 
ago, and was very 
small at first, but 
has gradually gi'own 
to its present im- 
mense proportions. 
The building in 
which this firm is 
located stands six 
stories high on Corn- 
liill and Washington 

Street, seven stories high on Brattle Street, and is over one hundred and fifty feet 
long. In this building every part of the art of book-making is performed, — type- 
setting, stereot3qiing, presswork, and binding. More than two hundred persons 
are constantly employed, and nearly as many more are in one way or another de- 
pendent upon the vast business transacted here, — the establishment being one of 
the largest printing-offices in the country. The processes of book-making are very 
interesting under any circumstances, and they are doubly so when they are trans- 
acted on a large scale, with all the appliances of modern machinery. 

At this point Washington Street makes a curious short curve to the right, and 
terminates in Dock Square. It has long been suggested to continue Washington 
Street through to the northern part of the city, giving a more direct as well as a 




22 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



wider avenue to the railroad stations and to Cliarlestown than at present exists. 
This plan has now been adopted by the city government. The extension of Wash- 
ington Street will pass directly over the site of the fine building represented in the 
accompanying view, and the occupants, who were seriously damaged by a fire that 
took place only a few days after the great fire of November 9, 1872, will remove to 
the elegant new building now in process of erection on the corner of Federal and 
Franl-clin Streets, a view of which is given in our frontispiece. 




VIEW AT THE HEAD OF WASHINGTON STREET. 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 23 



III. THE WEST END. 

T was, perhaps, fortunate for the people of Boston that the original penin- 
sula was so uneven of surface. The physical geography of the town 
determined the laws of its growth and development. It was inevitable 
that the business of Boston in its early days, being chiefly commercial, 
should cluster near the wharves. It was natural that the high hills should be 
chosen for residences. When, in the progress of the town, the merchants burst 
through the ancient limits of trade, they insensibly followed the line of level ground, 
and left the hills covered with dwelling-houses. It was not until Fort Hill had 
been wholly surrounded by mercantile houses that the people residing upon that 
once beautiful eminence reluctantly retired. It is only within a few years that the 
quieter branches of business — agencies, architects' and lawyers' offices — have 
begun to mount Beacon Hill, and the progress is so slow that there seems but little 
prospect that a business movement in that direction will meet with much success. 
From the difficulty that business almost always experiences in ascending a hill has 
resulted the preservation of a very large section of the city in the immediate 
aeighborhood of business, which is still, and is likely to remain, a desirable place 
for residences. This section is generally called the West End, — a term which is, 
like the Xorth End, very difficult to be defined. We have already included in the 
latter division a part of what is usually termed the West End, and we must now, 
for convenience' sake, embrace within the limits of the West End a part of the 
South End. Our division includes all that part of the city south and Avest of 
Cambridge, Court, and Tremont Streets, to the line of the Boston and Albany 
Railroad, following the line of that railroad to Brookline. These boundaries take in 
the whole of Beacon Hill, the Common and Public Garden, and most of the Back 
Bay new land. 

It has already been said that Beacon Hill, the highest in Boston, has been shorn 
of its original proportions. It is to-day neither very steep nor very Iiigh, nor is it 
easy to convey any intelligible idea of its original character by giving the altitude 
of its highest point above the level of the sea. Those who are familiar with the 
neighborhood will understand the extent of the changes, however, when it is said 
that the three peaks of "Trea Mount" were where Pemberton Scpiare, the Reservoir, 
and Louisburg Square now are. The hill was cut down in the early years of the 
present century, and Mount Vernon Street was laid out at that time ; but it was 
not until 1835 that the hill where Pemberton Square now is was removed, and. that 
square laid out. Beacon Hill obtained its name from the fact that, for almost a 
century and a half from the settlement of the town, a tall pole stood upon its 
summit, surmounted by a skillet filled with tar, to be fired in case it was desired to 
give an alarm to the surrounding towns. After the Revolution a monument took 
its place, which stood until 1811, and was then taken down to make room for 
improvements. 



24 BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 

Tli'e iiigliesi; jtoint of the hill in its present shape is occupied by the Massachusetts 
State House, an illustration of which is given on the cover of this book. So prom- 
inent is its position that it is impossible to make a comprehensive sketch of the 
city that does not exhibit the dome of the State House as the central point of the 
background. The land on which it stands was formerly Governor Hancock's cow- 
pasture, and was bought of his heirs by the town and given to the State. The 
corner-stone was laid by the Freemasons, Paul Revere grand master, in 1793, Gov- 
ernor Samuel Adams being present and making an address on the occasion. It 
was first occupied by the Legislature in January, 1798. In 1852 it was enlarged 
at the rear by an extension northerly to Mount Vernon Street, an improvement 
which cost considerably more than the entire first cost of the building. In 1866 
and 1867 it was very extensively remodelled inside. 

There are a great many points of interest about the State House. The statues of 
Webster and JMann, on either side of the approach to the building, will attract 
notice, if not always admiration. Within the Doric Hall, or rotunda, houis may 
be spent by the stranger in examining the objects that deserve attention. Here is 
the fine statue of Washington, by Chantrey ; here are arranged in an attractive 
manner, behind glass protectors, the battle-flags borne by Massachusetts soldiers in 
the war against Rebellion ; here are copies of the tombstones of the Washington 
family in Brington Parish, England, presented to Senator Sumner by an English 
nobleman, and by the former to the State ; here is the admirable statue of Governor 
Andrew ; here are the busts of the patriot hero Samuel Adams, of the martyred Presi- 
dent Lincoln, and of Senator Sumner ; near by are the tablets taken from the 
monument just mentioned which was erected on Beacon Hill after the Revolution to 
commemorate that contest. Ascending into the Hall of Representatives, we find 
suspended from the ceiling the ancient codfish, emblem of the direction taken by 
Massachusetts industry in the early times. In the Senate Chamber there are also 
relics of the olden time and portraits of distinguished men. From the cupola, 
which is always open when the General Court is not in session, is to be obtained one 
of the finest views of Boston and the neighboring country, A register of the 
visitors to the cui)ola is kept in a book prepared for the jHirpose. During the last 
season, between the 6th of June and the 22d of December, no less than 42,990 
persons ascended the long flights of stairs to obtain this view of Boston and its 
suburbs, an average of three hundred a day. 

The statue of Governor Andrew in Doric Hall is one of the most excellent of our 
portrait statues. It represents the great war governor as he appeared before care 
had ploughed its lines in his face. This statue was first unveiled to public view 
when it was presented to the State on the 14th of February, 1871. Its history is 
as follows : In January, 1865, a meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, at which it was 
voted to raise a fund for the erection of a statue to the late Edward Everett. The 
response was much more liberal than was necessary for the original 2)urpose, and 
after the statue on the Public Garden, to be mentioned hereafter, was finished, a 
large surjdus remained. The portrait of Everett now in Faneuil Hall was procured 
and paid for, a considerable sum was voted in aid of the equestrian statue of Wash- 
ington, and of the balance, ten thousand dollars were appropriated for a statue of 
Andrew, which the State subsequently passed a formal vote to accept. The artist 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



25 



was Thomas Ball, a native of Charlestovvn, but now resident in Florence, The 
marble is of beautiful texture and whiteness, and the statue is approved both for its 
admirable likeness of the eminent 
original and for its artistic merits. 
There is nothing in Boston of 
which Bostonians are more truly 
proud than of the Common. Other 
cities have larger and more preten- 
tious public grounds ; none of them 
can boast a park of greater natural 
beauty, or better suited to the pur- 
poses to which it is put. There are 
no magnificent drives, for teams are 
not admitted within the sacred pre- 
cincts. Everything is of the plain- 
est and homeliest character. A part 
of the Common is left to itself, and 
is as barren as the feet of ten thou- 
sand youthful ball-players can make 
it. There is the Frog Pond, with its 
fountain, where the boys may sail 
their miniature ships at their own 
sweet wull. There is the deer park, 
a delightful and popular resort for 
the youngest of the visitors to this 
noble public space. All the malls 
and paths are shaded by fine old trees, 
whicli have their names somewhat - — ^sz 
pedantically labelled upon them, giv- 
ing an admirable opportunity for the 
study of what we may call gi-and 
botany. On bright spring days the Common is resorted to by thousands of boys, 
who find here ample room to give vent to their surplus spirit and animation, free 
from all undue restraint. On summer evenings the throng of promenaders is very 
great, and of itself testifies to the value placed by all classes upon this opportunity 
to get a breath of fresh air in the heart of the city. 

The history of the Common has been written several times, but there are never- 
theless curiously erroneous notions prevalent in regard to the manner in which it 
became jmblic ground, and the power of the city over it. The territory of Boston 
was purchased from Mr. Blaxton by the corporation of colonists wlio settled it. The 
land was then divided among tlie several inhabitants by the officers of the town. A 
part of it was set off as a training-field and as common ground, subject originally to 
further division in case such a coarse should be thought advisable. In 1640 a vote 
was passed by the town, in consequence of a movement on the part of certain citi- 
zens that was discovered and thwarted none too soon, that, with the exception of 
'-3 or 4 lotts to make vp y" streete from bro Hobte Walkers to y" Eound Marsh," no 




THE ANDREW STATUE. 



26 



BOS TOX ILL US TEA TED. 

/I 



more land should be granted out of the Common. It is solely by the power of this 
^ote and ^^^^e j^aloi'sy of t^^e ci^^^iz^ns sustaii|n*ng it that thp rnmnion was kept sacred 

to the uses of the 
people as a whole 
iiom 1640 until the 
adoption of the city 
charter, when, by 
the desire of the citi- 
zens, and by the con- 
sent of the Legisla- 
ture, the right to 
ilienate any portion 
of the Common was 
expressly withheld 
fi om the city gov- 
ernment. 

The earliest use to 
A\hich the Common 
A\ IS put was that of 
a pasture and a train- 
ing-held on muster 
d lys. The occupa- 
tion of the Common 
as a grazing - field 
continued until the 
year 1830, but it was 

by no means wholly given up to that use. As early as 1675 an English traveller, Mr. 
John Josselyn, published in London an "Account of Two Voyages," in which occurs 
the following notice of Boston Common : "On the south there is a small but pleas- 
ant Common, where the Gallants a little before sunset walk with their Marmalet- 
Madams, as we do in Moorfields, etc., till the nine a clock Bell rings them home to 
their respective habitations, when presently the Constables walk their rounds to see 
good orders kept, and to take up loose people." Previous and long subsequent to 
this the Common was also the usual place for executions. Four persons at least were 
hanged for witchcraft between 1656 and 1660. Murderers, pirates, deserters, and 
others were put to death under the forms of law upon the Common, until, in 1812, a 
memorial signed by a great number of citizens induced the selectmen to order that 
no part of the Common should be gi'anted for such a purpose. Those who have 
studied the history of Boston most closely are of opinion that on more than one 
occasion a branch of the great Elm was used as the gallows. And near that famous 
tree was the scene of a lamentable duel, in 1728, that resulted in the death of a very 
promising young man. The level ground east of Charles Street has been used from 
the very earliest times as a parade-ground. Here take place the annual parade and 
drum-head election of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, the oldest 
military organization in the country, and here the Governor delivers to the newly 
elected officers their commissions for the year. 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



27 



but scne things cannot be passed over. Tlie Old Urn i» 



™ . • 1 V i,„, „f tbp Common was quite different from the present. On 
The ong.nal boundary of the Common a ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ _^^^^^ 

the west it was bounded by '^f ^''J^^" :^ ,„ i,reg„kr line to West Street ; 
byBeaeon Street to T— St «t t ence by g^^^ ^.^^ ^^ ^^^ 

tin;: tt~oun"^^^^^^^ 

Titr^ed th'e granar,^ the almshorrse. the •^'^^^^^^^^'^^^Z^ 
'1 ntnt" rrii cXes;^— of that Let, the land oeou- 

St^^r L!*ins above ^-fX'i:^^^:^!:^^ ^r^ 

sation h-l'«"--Vrvl":nstets' tL W for the bnrying-ground was 
between Tremont and B°y f"St-^'- ^^^^ ;^ ,,„,, ,it,,t,a the deer park in 

bought by the town ^ J/;J; ""^^ „ off when Charles Street was laid out, 

^?;,s:"J;:irri;"S" -. .. .-. <. .. — .... 

and about the Common 
perhaps the chief ob- 
ject of interest still, 
though its symmetri- 
cal beauty is gone. 
This great tree is cer- 
tainly the oldest ": 
known tree in New- 
England. It was large 
enough to find a place 
on the map engraved 
in 1722, and on the 
great branch broken 
otf by the gale of 1860 
could be easily count- 
ed nearly two hundred 
rings, carrying the age 
of that branch back 
to 1670. It is sur- 
mised that the sup- 
posed witch, Ann 
Hibbens, was hanged 
upon it in 1656, and 

if so, it could have ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^„„„^^ 

hardly been less than ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ,^^^^ ^f ^, 

twenty-six years old, which wouia ^^^^ ^^^^^^ .^ 

"% •^'^" rdtSste^r t^rrthet ;:™er plfees at great cost and 
rlfSlht afterthth they were secured by iron bands and bars. The great 




28 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



gale of June, 1860, tore off the largest limb and otherwise mutilated it, and again 
it was restored as far as was possible, and the cavity was filled up and covered. 
In September, 1869, the high wind that tore the roof from the first Coliseum 
and blew down the spires of so many churches in Boston and vicinity, made havoc 
with the remaining limbs, taking off one great branch that was forty-two inches 
in circumference. The iron fence around the tree was put up in 1854. 

The Frog Pond was, probably, in the early days of Boston, just what its name 
indicates, — a low, marshy spot, filled with stagnant water, and the abode of the 
tuneful batracliian. The enterprise of the early inhabitants is credited with having 
transformed it into a real artificial pond. This pond was the scene of the formal 
introduction of the water of Cochituate Lake into Boston, on the 25th of October, 
1848. A great procession was organized on that day, under the direction of the city 
government, which marched through the principal streets to the Common, where, 
after a hymn sung by the Handel and Haydn Society, a prayer, an ode written by 
James Kussell Lowell and sung by the school-children, addresses by the Hon. 
Nathan Hale and by Mayor Quiucy, the water was let on through the gate of the 
fountain, amid the shouts of the peoi)le, the roar of cannon, the hiss of rockets, and 
the ringing of bells. 

The burying-ground on Boylston Street, formerly known as the South, and later 
as the Central Burying-ground, is the least interesting of the old cemeteries of Bos- 
ton. It was opened in 1756, but the oldest stone, with the exception of one which 
was removed from some other ground, or which perpetuates a manifest error, is 
dated 1761. The best-known name upon any stone in the graveyard is that of 
Monsieur Julien, the inventor of the famous soup that bears his name, and the 
most noted restaurateur of Boston in the last century. 

One of the most conspicuous objects on the Common is the Brewer fountain, the 
gift to the city of Gardner Brewer, Esq., which began to play for the first time on 

June 3, 1868. It is a copy, 
-^ in bronze, of a fountain de- 

signed by the French artist 
Lienard, executed for the 
Paris World's Fair of 1855, 
where it was awarded a gold 
medal. The great figures at 
the base represent Neptune 
and Amphitrite, Acis and Ga- 
latea. The fountain was cast 
in Paris, and was procured, 
brought to this country, and 
set up at the sole expense of 
the public - spirited donor. 
Copies in iron have been made 
for the cities of Lyons and 
THE BKEvvER FOUNTAIN. Bordcaux ; aud au cxact copy, 

in bronze, of the fountain on the Common was made for Said Pacha, the late Vice- 
roy of Egypt. 




BOSTON ILL US TEA TED. 



29 



Upon the old Flagstaff Hill, close by the Frog Pond and the Old Elm, will stand 
the Soldiers' JMonument, the corner-stone of which was laid with appropriate 
ceremonies September 18, 1871. Upon a granite platform will rest the plinth, 
in the form of a Greek cross, with four panels in which will be inserted bas-reliefs 
representing the Sanitary Commission, the Navy, the Departure for the War, and 
the Return. At each of the four corners Avill be a statue of heroic size, representing 
Peace, History, the Army, and the Navy. The die upon the plinth will also be 
richly sculptured, and upon it, surrounding the shaft in alto-relievo, will be four 
allegorical figures, representing the North, South, East, and West. The shaft is to 
be a Eoman Doric coluum, the whole to be surmounted by a colossal statue of 
America, resting on a hemisphere, guarded by four figures of the American eagle, 
with outspread wings. "America " will hold in her left hand the national standard, 
and in her right she will support a sheathed sword and Avreaths for the victors. The 
extreme height of the monument will be ninety feet, and it Avill not be comideted 
for a year or more. The artist is Mr. Martin ]\Iillmore, of Boston. 

There are very few spots on the Common with which some Bostonian has not a 
pleasant association. Almost every citizen and visitor has rejoiced in the grateful 
shade of the Tre- 
mont Street ^Mall, 
or the arching elms 
of the Beacon Street 
Mall, on a hot sum- 
mer's day. Few 
v.'ould care to tramp 
upon the burning 
bricks of the side- 
walks when there is 
so pleasant a path 
close at hand. But 
the associations are 
by no means con- 
fined to the mere ex- 
perience of comfort 
beneath the shadow 
of these wide-spread- 
ing trees. How 
many thousand 
" gallants " have 
walked these malls 
with their "marma- 
let-madams," hold- 
ing sweet converse 

the while ! The inimitable Dr. Holmes has laid the scene of one of the pleasantest 
courtships in literature at the head of one of the malls branching from the one 
which our view represents. The " autocrat of the breakfast-table " had engaged 
passage for Liverpool, that lie might escape forever from the sight of the fascinating 




;acon street mall. 



30 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



schoolmistress if she turned a deaf ear to his petition. Having thus provided a way 
of escape, he planned to take a walk with her. 

"It was on the Common that we were walking. The mall, or boulevard of our 
Common, you know, has various branches leading from it in different directions. 
One of these runs down from opposite Joy Street, southward across the length of 
the whole Common to Boylston Street, We called it the long path, and were fond 
of it. 

" I felt very weak, indeed, (though of a tolerably robust habit,) as Ave came oppo- 
site the head of this patli on that morning. I think I tried to speak twice without 
making myself distinctly audible. At last I got out the question, ' Will you take the 
long path with me ? ' 'Certainly,' said the schoolmistress, 'with much pleasure.' 
'Think,' I said, 'before you answer; if you take the long path with me now, I 
shall interpret it that we are to part no more ! ' The schoolmistress stepped back 
with a sudden movement, as if an arrow had struck her. 

" One of the long granite blocks used as seats was hard by, the one you may 
still see close by the Ginko tree. * Pray, sit down,' I said. ' No, no,' she answered, 
softly, ' I will walk the long path with you.' " 

The history of the Public Garden is shorter and less interesting than that of the 
Common. Before the improvement of this part of the city was begun, a large part 




THE PUBLIC GARDEN, FROM AKLIXGTOX STREET. 

of what is now the Public Garden was covered by the tides, and the rest was known 
as "the marsh at the foot of the Common." In 1794, the ropcAvalks having been 
burned, the town voted to grant these flats for the erection of new rope walks . It 
was not until many years later that the folly of this act was seen, — indeed, not 
until after the construction of the iMill-dam, now the extension of Beacon Street, to 



BOSTON ILL I ^STRA TED. 



;i 




Brookline. When the tide had ceased to flow freely over the flats, and the marsh 
so rashly granted be- 
came dry land, the 
holders of this prop- 
erty, having once 
more lost their rope- 
walks by fire, in 1819, 
began to realize its 
vahie, and proposed 
to sell it for business 
and dwelling pur- 
poses. Charles Street 
had been laid out 
in 1803, and this 
increased the value 
of buikling-lots on 
the tract, if it could 
be sold. The pro- 
posed action was, 
however, resisted, and 
finally, in 1824, the 
city paid upwards of 
fifty tliousand dol- the pond, public garden. 

lars to regain what the town had in a fit of generosity given away. But for a long 
time after this very 
little was done to or- 
nament and improve 
the Public Garden. 
The vexatious delays 
in settling the terms 
on which the Back 
Bay was to be filled 
are hardly forgotten 
yet ; and not more 
than half a dozen 
years ago some of the 
principal walks in the 
enclosure were still 
in the worst conceiv- 
able condition. 
There was,until 1859, 
Avhen an act of the 
Legislature and a 
vote of the city set- 
tled the question 
finally, a small but ^he "bridge, public garden. 




32 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



earnest partj^ in favor of disposing of the entire tract for building purposes, — just as 
there is now a persistent class of persons who desire the improvement of several streets 
at the expense of the Common. All these unwise plans failed, and the Public Garden 
became the inalienable property of the city. In the last thirteen years very much 
has been done to make the Public Garden attractive, and although it has not the 
diversified surface and shaded walks of the older enclosure, it has already become a 
favorite resort for young and old. 

The area of this park is about twenty-one and a quarter acres. It is not exactly 
rectangular in shape, as it seems to be, the Boylston Street side being longer tlian 
the Beacon Street, and the Charles Street longer than the Arlington Street side. 
The pond in the centre is laboriously irregular in shape, and is wholly artificial. It 
contains rather less than four acres, and Avas constructed in 1859, almost imme- 
diately after the act of the Legislature relating to the Public Garden had been 
accepted. The central walk, from Charles to Arlington Streets, crosses this pond 
by an iron bridge resting on granite piers, erected in 1867. The appearance 
of unnecessary solidity and strength which this bridge j)resents gave point to 
numerous jokes in the newspapers of the day. The bridge is certainly strong 
enough to support an army on the march, and perhaps it looks much more substantial 
than it really is ; but aside from the rather ponderous appearance of the piers, there 
is very little opportunity for unfavorable criticism of the structure. 

There are several interesting works of art in the Public Garden. The one first 
placed there was a small but very beautiful statue of Venus rising from the Sea, which 

stands near the Ai'lington Street entrance, oppo- 
site Commonwealth Avenue. The fountain con- 
nected with this statue is so arranged as to throw, 
A\hen it is playing, a fine spray all about the fig- 
ure of Venus, producing a remarkably beautiful 
effect. Further on towards Beacon Street stands 
the monument to the discovery and to the discov- 
r, erer, whoever he may be, of anesthetics, presented 
by Thomas Lee, Esq., and dedicated in June, 1868. 
In the centre of the Beacon Street side stands the 
statue in bronze of the late Edward Everett. The 
funds for this statue were raised by a public sub- 
scription, in 1865. The remarkable success of this 
subscription has already been referred to. This 
statue was modelled in Pvome by Story, in 1866, 
( ast in Munich, and presented to the city in No- 
A ember, 1867. The orator stands with his head 
thrown back, ami with his right arm extended 
in the act of making a favorite and ^-aceful ges- 
ture. 

But the most conspicuous of all the works of art in the Public Gaiden is Ball's 
great equestrian statue of Washington, which is justly regarded by many as one of 
the finest, as it is one of the largest, pieces of the kind in America. The movement 
which resulted in the erection of this monument was begun in the spring of 1859. 




THE EVERETT STATUE. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



The earliest contribution to the fund was the proceeds of an oration delivered by the 
Hon Robert C. Winthrop in the Music Hall less than a month after the committee 
was organized. A gi'eat fair held in the same place in November of the same year, 
and an'' appropriation of ten thousand dollars from the city, supplied the greater 
part of the needful funds, supplemented in 1868 by a contribution of five thousand 
dollars of the surplus remaining after the erection of the statue of Everett just 
mentioned. The contract for the 
statue was made with Thomas 
Ball in December, 1859, and 
the model was completed in a 
little more than four years. 
The war was then waging, and 
the foundries were all engaged 
upon work for the government. 
It was not until 1867 that a 
contract was made for the cast- 
ing with the Ames Manufac- 
turing Company, of Chicopee. 
The statue was unveiled on the 
3d of July, 1869. It is a mat- 
ter of no little local pride that 
all the artists and artisans em- 
ployed in its production were 
furnished by Massachusetts, 
without any help from abroad. 
The statue represents Wash- 
ington at a different period of 
his life from that usually se- 
lected by artists, and is all the 

-' . ' . . , THE WASHINGTON STATUE. 

more effective and ongmal on 

that account. The outline is gi-aceful, and perfectly natural from every point of view, 
and the work reveals new beauties the more it is examined. It was cast in fourteen 
pieces, but the joints are invisible. The extreme height of the pedestal and stntnp 
is thirty-eight feet, the statue itself being twenty-two feet high. The fouiul.v 
which rests upon piles, is of solid masonry, eleven feet deep. The lamented 
ernor Andrew was one of the original committee which undertook the direction 
this work, but he died before its completion. 

Close by one of the busiest spots in Boston is one of those ancient landmarks 
which the good sense and the good taste of its citizens have thus far preserved. It 
has been remarked that the irregular piece of territory bounded by Beacon, Tremont, 
and Park Streets was originally a part of the Common. In 1660 it became neces- 
sary to appropriate new space to resting-places for the dead, and the thrifty habits 
of our forefathers would not suffer them to buy land for the purpose when they were 
already in possession of a gi-eat tract lying in common. Accordingly, in the year 
before mentioned, the graveyard now known as the Old Granary Burying-ground 
was established. Two years afterwards, other portions of the territory now lost to 




34 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



the Common were appropriated for sites for the bridewell, house of correction, 
almshouse, and public granary. The last-named building, which stood at first near 
the head of Park Street, and afterwards on the present site of the meeting-house, 
gave to the burying-ground the name by which it is so commonly designated. This 
is, without exception, the most interesting of the old Boston graveyards. Within 
this little enclosure lie the remains of some of the most eminent men in the history 

of Massach u setts and 
the country. The 
list includes no less 
than nine Governors 
of the Colony and 
State ; two of the 
signers of the Dec- 
laration of Indepen- 
dence ; Paul Revere, 
the patriotic me- 
chanic ; Peter Fan- 
euil, the donor of 
the market - house 
and hall that bear 
his name ; Judge 
Samuel Sewall ; six 
famous doctors of 
divinity ; the first 
mayor of Boston ; 
and a great many 
others of Avhom ev- 
ery student of Amer- 
ican history has read. 

ENTRANCE TO THE GRANARY BURYING-GROUND. UlJOU tllC frOnt of 

one of the tombs, on the side next to Park Street Church, is a small white marble 
slab with the inscription, "No. 16. Tomb of Hancock," which is all that marks 
the resting-place of the famous first signer of the Declaration of Independence, 
and the first Governor of Massachusetts under the Constitution. In another part 
of the yard is the grave of the great Revolutionary patriot and Governor of the 
Commonwealth, Samuel Adams. Near the Tremont House corner of the burying- 
ground are the graves of the victims of the Boston Massacre of 1770. The most 
conspicuous monument is that erected in 1827 over the grave where repose the 
parents of Benjamin Franklin ; it contains the epitaph composed by the gi'eat 
man, who, **in filial regard to their memory, placed this stone." Even the briefest 
reference to the notable persons who lie buried here would extend this sketch unduly. 
The row of once stately and beautiful, but now mutilated, elms, outside this 
burying-ground, has also a history. They were imported from England, and after 
having been for a time in a nursery at Milton, were set out here by Captain 
Adino Paddock, from whom the mall now takes its name, in or about 1762. Pad- 
dock was a loyalist, and a leader of the party in Boston. He left town with the 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



35 



British troops in 1776, removed to Halifax, and thence went to England ; but npon 
,Wing a government appointment in the Island of Jersey, he removed tlnther and 

h'ed th^re until his death, in 1807. He was a carriage-builder, and his shop stood 
opposite the row of trees which he planted and cared for. The elms were carefully 
protected during the occupation of the town by the British. Until witlun a few years 

h r Xht to cfst a grateful shade upon the throng of pedestrians constantly passing 
and replssinc. on Tremont Street has been respected. But three of them have already 
;! iSd to false ideas of utility, and on two occasions only the sti^nges re- 
monstrances of the press and of private citizens have been able to Pr-erve them rom 
the -march of improvement." Some large limbs have been broken off by high 
winds, others have been amputated in the most uncalled-for manner; so that in 
winte; the trees are anything but an ornament, though m summer the graceful and 
abundant foliage conceals the mutilation to which they have been ^^bje^ted. 

The large o^en spaces in this part of the city have made it a desirable section fo 
residences! It is but lately that business has driven almost a 1 the inhabitants of 
houses on the easterly side of Tremont Street to remove elsewhere m Boston. Ihe 

other streets that bound the public grounds have not been mvaded. Boylston, 

Arlington, Park, and Beacon Streets are 

still among the favorite streets in the 

city for dwelling-houses. The last-named 

street is, perhaps, the greatest favorite of 

all, especially upon the hill opposite the 

Common, and upon the water side below 

Charles Street. Near the top of the hill, 

on this street, stood, until a few years 

ago, the Hancock mansion, one of the 

nmst famous of the old buildings of Bos- 
ton that have been compelled to make 

way for modern improvements. This 

house was in itself and in its surround- 
ings, one of the most elegant mansions in 



the city, though the style of architecture 
had wholly gone out of fashion long be- 
fore it was taken down. It was built 

by Thomas Hancock in 17-37, and Avas ... . w „ 

Both uncle and nephew were exceedingly hospitable, and were accustomed to^ en- 
tertain the Governor and Council and other distinguished guests annually on Ar- 
tillery Election Day" ; and it is said that every Governor of Massachusetts under the 
Constitution, until the demolition, was entertained once at least within this^mansion. 
The house was taken down in 1863, and on the site now stand two of the finest tree- 
stone-front houses in the city. _ . „ 
Not far away, on the corner of Beacon and Park Streets, is the spacious n^ans on of 
the late George Ticknor. This house was erected many years ago, and was at first 
desi<.ned to be very much larger than it was subsequently when occupied. The 
ojriolner erected the corner house and the two adjoining <^vellmg-W^^^^^^^ 
Be:con Street as a single residence, but the plan was afterwards changed, and what 




THE OLD HANCOCK HOUSE. 

inherited by Governor John Hancock. 



36 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



was originally intended for one dwelling-liouse became three, all of ample size. Mr. 
Ticknor bought the corner house of the late Harrison Gray Otis, and began to reside 
there about the year 1830 ; and it was his Boston home until his death in 1870. 

On the slope of the hill, nearly opposite the foot of the Common, stands the 
dwelling-house occupied by Mr. Ticknor's friend, the historian Prescott, during 

the last fourteen, 
years of his life. 
It is unpreten- 
tious in archi- 
tecture, but it 
was fitted with- 
in in a style of 
1^ great elegance, 
was ar- 



|, and 

' ranged specially 
jtj with reference 
lii to Mr. Pres- 
d cott's infirmity 
' of blindness. 
- In it the great - 
f er part of the 
work upon his 
fumou s histo- 
ries of the vari- 
ous Spanish 
conquests was 
done. To this 
house he re- 
moved, in 1845, 




MK. PRESCOTT S RESIDKNCE, BEACON STREET. 



from his former home in Bedford Street, and in it he died in 1859. 

Our space does not admit of a full account of the filling in of the Back Bay lauds, 
— that great improvement by which hundreds of acres have been added to the 
territo]-ial extent of Boston and millijns of dollars put into the State treasury. 
A few facts and dates only can be given. Private enterprise had already suggested 
this great improvement when the State first asserted its right to a part of the flats 
in 1852. The owners of land fronting on the water had claimed and exercised 
the right to fill in to low-water mark. In this way the Neck, south of Dover 
Street, had been very greatly widened. Commissioners were appointed in 1852 to 
adjust and decide all questions relating to the rights of claimants of flats, and to 
devise a plan of improvement. Progi-ess was necessarily slow where so many inter- 
ests were involved, but at last all disputes were settled, and the filling was begun in 
good earnest. No appropriation has ever been made for work to be done on the 
Commonwealth's flats ; the bills have been more than paid from the very start by 
the sales of land. By the last report of the commissioners it appears that, up to 
the first of Januaiy of the present year (1872), the proceeds of sales have reached 
the sum of §3,591,514.82, and the total expenses have been $1,547,220.40, leaving 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



37 



more than two million dollars net profit to the Commonwealth. About half a mil- 
lion feet of land still remain unsold, and it is expected that a million and a half of 
dollars clear profit will be realized from it. This is altogether independent of the 
land filled by the Boston Water Power Company, and by other corporations and 
individual owners. It was originally intended that there should be in the district 











COMMONWEALTH AVENUE. 

filled by the State a sheet of water, to be called Silver Lake, but the idea was sub- 
sequently abandoned. A very wide avenue was, however, laid out through it, to be 
in the nature of a park, and the plan is in process of being carried out. When 
completed. Commonwealth Avenue will be a mile and a half in length, with a width 
of two hundred and forty feet between the houses on each side. Through the centre 
runs a long park in which rows of trees have been planted, and these will, in time, 
make this avenue one of the most beautiful parks in the country. There are wide 
driveways on either side ; and the terms of sale compel the maintenance of an open 
space between each house and the ample sidewalks. In the centre of the park, near 
Arlington Street, stands the granite statue of Alexander Hamilton, presented to 
the city in 1865 by Thomas Lee, Esq., who subsequently erected, at his own ex- 
pense, the "Ether Monument" in the Public Garden, before mentioned. Beacon 
Street has been extended to the Brookline boundary, and a very large part of the 
laud filled and sold by the Commonwealth, between Beacon and Bo)'lston Streets, 
has been built upon. The nomenclature of the streets in this territory is ingenious, 
and far preferable to the lettering and numbering adopted in other cities. To the 
north of Commonwealth Avenue is ]\Iarlborough Street, and to the south Newbury 
Street, which names were formerly applied to parts of Washington Street, before it 
was consolidated. The streets running north and south are named alphabetically, 
alternating three syllables and two, — Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, 
and so on. 

Within the limits of the West End district are many of the finest churches in 
the city proper, and the movement of the religious societies westward and south- 
ward is exhibiting no signs of cessation. Some of the oldest societies in town 



88 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED, 



are preparing to emigrate to the new lands of the Back Bay, as, for instance, the 
Old South and the Brattle Street Churches. Only a few of the churches in this 
part of the city, some of them very elegant and costly, can be mentioned here. 
"The First Church in Boston," Unitarian, claims the first attention, though the 

building is one of the most 
T_ '^ recent. Allusion has been 

made already to the first and 
second houses of this society, 
in State and Washington 
Streets. The site of Joy's 
Building, near State Street, 
was used by the Society from 
1639 until 1807, when it re- 
moved to Chauncy Street, and 
thence in December, 1868, to 
the new edifice on the corner 
of ]\Iarlborough and Berkeley 
Streets. This cliurch was 
built at a cost of two liun- 
dred and seventy-five thou- 
sand dollars, and is one of the 
most beautiful specimens of 
architecture in Boston. Es- 
pecially fine are the cariiage- 
porch and the vestibule on 
the Berkeley Street front. 
The windows are all of colored 
glass, and were executed in 
England. The organ, which is one of the best in the city, was manufactured in 
Germany by the builders of the Music Hall organ. In every part of the building, 
within and without, are evidences of excellent taste and judgment, such as can 
seldom be seen in the churches of this country. The church can seat nearly one 
thousand persons. 

On the corner of Boylston and Arlington Streets stands the first church erected 
on the Back Bay lands of the Commonwealth. This society, like that of the First 
Church, is attached to the Unitarian denomination. It is, however, the successor 
of the first Presbyterian church gathered in Boston. It Avas established in 1727, 
and its first place of worship was a barn, somewhat transformed to adapt it to its 
new use, at the corner of Berry Street and Long Lane, now Channing and Federal 
Streets. The second house, on the same site, was erected in 1744, and within it met 
the Convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States on the part of 
Massachusetts, in 1788. It was from this circumstance that Federal Street received 
its name. In 1786 the Church had become small in numbers, and by a formal vote 
it renounced the Presbyterian form and adopted the Congregational system. Having 
occupied for fifty years the third house on the original site, erected in 1809, the 
society was compelled, by the invasion of business and the removals of its people. 




FIRST CHURCH, BERKELEY STREET. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



39 



The most noted of this 



to build the house in which it now worships. During the nearly one hundred and 
fifty years since the foundation of this society, it has had but six pastors, though there 
was one interval of ten years when it had no regular pastor, 
brief list was the 
Rev. Dr. Chan- 
ning, who was 
pastor from 1803 
until his death in 
1842. The Rev. 
Ezra S. Gannett 
was ordained 
and installed as 
colleague pastor 
in 1824, and re- 
mained col- 
league and sole 
pastor until his 
melan ch oly 
death in August, 
1871, in the ter- 
rible accident at 
Revere. The va- 
cancy has late- 
ly been filled by 
the choice of the 
Rev. Mr. Ware, 
lately of Bal- 
timore. The 

. ARLINGTON STREET CHURCH. 

church on Ar- . 

lington Street is built of freestone, and is a fine structure, though less ornate m its 
architecture than many others. Its tower contains an excellent chime of bells. 

The early settlers of New England were not quite so tolerant towards other creeds 
than their own as they wished others to be to theirs. This is illustrated by their 
treatment of the Baptists. The doctrine of that denomination was pronounced 
"abominable," and those who held it were subject to annoyances without number. In 
1665 a church was formed in Charlestown in conformity with the permission of the 
Kind's commissioners to all people to worship God as they chose. But as soon as the 
representatives of the crown were gone the court summoned the members to answer 
for not attending church. When they pleaded in defence their own " meeting," the 
court regarded it as an additional aggravation, and fined all the culprits. They re- 
fused to pay and were sent to jail, where they remained three years. When at last 
they petitioned to be released, the former judgment was confirmed, and they were sent 
back to prison. The persecution continued, and generally with considerable activity, 
until 1680. Two years before that time the Baptists erected their first meetmg-house, 
and having a well-grounded fear that if their purpose was discovered it would be 
thwarted, they did not allow it to be known until the building was completed for what 




40 



BOSTON ILL US TEA TED. 



object it was intended. Even after it had been occupied the society found the door 
nailed up one Sunday morning by the marshal, by the order of the court. However, 

to-day the Baptist denomination may 
truly claim to be occupying a build- 
ing whose spire reaches farther to- 
wards heaven tlian that of anj^ other 
church in the city. There have been 
fourteen pastors of this church in a 
little more than two hundred years. 
The pastorate of the Eev. Dr. Neale, 
who is yet officiating, has extended 
over a period of thirty-six years, and 
is the longest but one on the list of 
Boston clergymen. The building on 
Somerset Street was erected in 1858. 
It is of brick covered with mastic ; the 
^]nre is two hundred feet high, and the 
cliurch itself stands on higher ground 
tlian any other in Boston, 

Between the Common and the Gran- 
ary Burying-ground stands one of the 
leading churches of the Trinitarian 
Congregational denomination. The 
congregation of Park Street Church 
was gathered in 1809. It took at once, 
and has ever since maintained, a prom- 
inent position among the churches of 
:'• ;' the city. Its pastors have been able 

and i^opular preachers, and few church- 
es in Boston or elsewhere are so uni- 

SOMERSET STREET, WITH CHURCH. /• i i i -i.! ] ij. 

' formly crowded with eager and atten- 

tive listeners. The present pastor, the Rev. W. H. H. Murray, who was installed 
in 1868, is widely known, not only as a brilliant preacher, but as the author of several 
volumes of sermons and an excellent, though enthusiastic, hand-book on the Adiron- 
dack Mountains, and as a popular lecturer. Under his ministrations the point of the 
old designation of Park Street Church — Brimstone Corner — has been wholly lost. 

The history of the society known as the Central Church is brief. The congregation 
was gathered in 1835 to worship in the Odeon, under the name of the Franklin 
Church. In May, 1841, the corner-stone of a new church Avas laid on Winter Street, 
and the edifice having been completed, was dedicated on the last day of the same 
year, the society having a week previously assumed its present name. The transfor- 
mation of Winter Street into a great centre of retail trade compelled the abandon- 
ment of the church on this site, and in the fall of 1867 the present elegant house, 
which had been several years in building, was dedicated. It is built of Roxbury 
stone with sandstone trimmings, and cost, including the land, upwards of three hun- 
dred and twenty-five thousand dollars, A heavy debt, which for some time oppressed 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



41 



the society in con- 
sequence of this 
enormous expendi- 
ture, has, within a 
year or two, been 
paid in full. The 
great gale of Septem- 
ber, 1S69, blew over 
one of the pinnacles 
of the spire, which 
is the tallest in the 
city, upon the main 
building, and caused 
serious damage, 
which required sev- 
eral months to re- 
pair. The interitn- 
of this church, not- 
withstanding an ex- 
cess of color, is re- 
markably beautiful. 
The Public Libra- 
ry of Boston is one 
of the most beneficent insti- 
tutions that has been con- 
ceived by its public-spirited 
and liberal citizens. The im- 
mense library, which has been 
collected in the short space 
of twenty years, is valuable 
not only from the variety, ex- 
cellence, and number of vol- 
umes it contains, but from 
its accessibility. It is abso- 
lutely open to all, and no 
assessment, direct or indirect, 
is levied upon those who 
make use of its privileges. 
It is conducted, too, on the 
most liberal principles. If a 
purchasable book not in the 
library is asked for, it is or- 
dered at once ; and the in- 
quirer for it is notified when 
it is received. Although the 
idea of a free public library 
had been entertained much 
earlier, it was not until 1852 




PARK STREET CHURCH. 




CENTRAL CHURCH, BERKELEY STREET. 



42 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



that this institution was actually established. Very soon after the board of trustees 
was organized, Joshua Bates, Esq., a native of ^lassachusetts, but at that time a mer- 
chant of London, gave to the city the sum of lifty thousand dollars, the income of 
which he desired should be expended in the purchase of books. The upper hall of the 
library building has been named Bates Hall in compliment to him. Generous dona- 
tions and bequests by many wealthy and large-hearted men and women have swelled 

the permanent fund 
of the Public Library 
to one hundred thou- 
sand dollars. The 
number of books add- 
ed during the year 
ending May, 1873, 
was 15,543, and of 
pamphlets, 11,770, — 
making a total at the 
date of the last Re- 
port of 208, 501 books, 
and 112,153 pam- 
phlets. The circula- 
tion during the previ- 
ous year amounted to 
4(37,755 separate is- 
sues. The Boston 
Public Library is thus 
the first in the coun- 
try in the number of 
issues, although it is 
exceeded in the num- 
ber of volumes by the 

Library of Congress. The library, which has been in its present quarters only a little 
more than fifteen years, has nearly outgrown the capacity of the building, and various 
devices have to be resorted to in order to accommodate the large number of new vol- 
umes added annually. In 1871 the library of Spanish and Portuguese books and 
manuscripts belonging to the late George Ticknor, Esq., were added to the library, 
in accordance with his will. This alone added more than 4,000 volumes and manu- 
scripts to the library, and to provide for future accessions the interior was remodelled 
largely, the result being to increase the capacity of the hall from 200,000 to 350,000 
volumes. The need of this change was shown sooner, perhaps, than the projectors 
of it anticipated ; for, in addition to the books already added during the year, the 
famous Barton Library of New York, numbering many thousand volumes, one of the 
finest private libraries in the country, and especially rich in Shakespearian literature, 
has been purchased and transferred to Bates Hall. Alterations are also contemplated 
to increase the capacity of the Lower Hall (popular department), which is becom- 
ing crowded. Branches of the Boston Public Library have been opened already 
in East and South Boston, Avhich have been greatly resorted to by the residents of 




BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



43 



these parts of the city. A buikling has also been erected in Roxbury for still another 
branch, which will be opened about the time these pages are going through the press. 
The building of the Boston Athenseum, situated on Beacon Street, not far from 
the head of Park Street, is an elegant structure, built of freestone, in the later 
Italian style of architecture. The corner-stone was laid in April, 1847, and the 
building, which cost nearly |200,000, was occupied in 1849. Within it is a library, 
now containing 
nearly 100,000 
volumes; a 
reading-room 
and an art gal- 
lery. The sci- 
entific library 
of the Ameri- 
can Academy 
of Arts and Sci- 
ences, of which 
B e n j a m i n 
Franklin was 
once a member, 
is also kept in 
the eastern 
room of the 
lower floor. 
The Athenaeum 
had its origin 
in a magazine 
called the 
"Monthly An- 
thology," 
which was first 

published in 1803. Soon after, an association of men zealous for literature was 
organized, and took the name of the Anthology Club. A public library and read- 
ing-room established by this club was the nucleus of the Boston Athenteum, 
which was incorporated by the Legislature under that name in 1807. The first 
library room was in Congress Street, but the quarters having become too contracted, 
Mr. James Perkins, in 1821, conveyed to the Athenpeum his own mansion in Pearl 
Street, — an exceedingly valuable gift, — and the society, having removed thither, 
remained there until the completion of the new building in Beacon Street. The 
Athenreum is not a public institution. The right to use the library is confined to the 
holders (and their families) of about one thousand shares, of whom only about six 
hundred pay the annual assessment that entitles them to take books from the library. 
The management is, however, very liberal towards strangers, and the attendants are 
unremitting in their attentions to visitors. There is an absence of "red tape" in 
the general direction of the library that not only makes it one of the most delightful 
literary homes to be found anywhere, but proves that nothing is lost by trusting to 




BOSTON ATHEN^UM. 



44 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



the good taste and sense of propriety of those Avho resort thither. The gallery of 
art contains a fine collection of paintings, many of them by famous artists, to which 
the general public is admitted on the payment of a small fee. It is expected that 
this collection will be transferred to the projected museum of art, when it has been 
more fully organized, and thereafter the whole building will be given up to the 
library and reading-room. The funds of the Athenaeum, of which the income is 
applicable to the uses of the institution, now amount to more than a quarter of a 
million dollars, beside the real estate and the library, paintings, and statuary, which 
are valued at upwards of $400,000. Last year there were added to the library 
upwards of 3,000 volumes at a cost of nearly $7,500, in which, however, was 
included the expense of periodicals subscribed for, binding, etc. 

On the lot bounded by Berkeley, Newbury, Clarendon, and Boylston Streets stand 

two more of the semi-public institutions of Boston, and both connected with the 

__ _r -_~ _ r^ . ^j^^-^ -^- '- practical educa- 

^-^-^^^^^^^m^^^-^^^^^-^^^^^^^^^^^^^-^' - -^-^^ tion of the peo- 

-_:^S^W7 s: i= P^^- Nearest to 

:-'-^^^^^^ ;js ^ v^^^ss., """'"r.^ Berkeley Street 

on the right of 
our Adew is the 
Iniilding of the 
I)Oston Society 
of Natural His- 
tory, incorporat- 
ed in 1831. The 
early days of the 
society formed 
a period of con- 
stant struggle 
for existence, 
from lack of the 
necessary funds. 
But the munifi- 

SOCIETV OF NATURAL HISTORY AND INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. CeUCC of SCVCral 

citizens, — one of whom, Dr. William J. Walker, gave, during his life and in his will, 
sums amounting in the aggregate to nearly two hundred thousand dollars, — and the 
grant of the land on which the building stands, by the State, in 1861, have raised 
it from its poverty, and given it a position of great usefulness and a reasonable degree 
of prosperity. The cabinet of this society, which is exceedingly rich in very many 
branches of natural history, is open to the public for several hours on every Wed- 
nesday and Saturday, and this opportunity is made use of by great numbers of citi- 
zens and strangers. There is also a fine library connected with the institution, and 
during the season interesting courses of lectures are delivered. 

The Institute of Technology was founded in 1861 for the purpose of giving in- 
stmction in applied science and the industrial arts. The published plan of the 
institution declares it to be "devoted to the practical arts and sciences," with a 
triple organization as a society of arts, a museum or conservatory of arts, and a 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



45 



school of industrial science and art. The land for the purpose was given by the 
State, and the Institute receives one third of the grant made by Congress to the 
State for the purpose of establishing a college of agriculture and the mechanic arts. 
The museum already collected includes photographs, prints, drawings, and casts, to 
illustrate architecture ; models of various kinds to give practical instruction in 
geometry, mechanics, and building ; machinery of many patterns to illustrate me- 
chanical movements ; models of mining machinery, and a great variety of other useful 
articles. The school pro\ddes seven courses of study, — in mechanical engineering, 
civil and topographical engineering, chemistry, geology and mining engineering, 
building and architecture, science and literature, and natural history. By the last 
published catalogue, there were 356 students from seventeen States of the Union 
and five foreign countries. Degrees and diplomas are conferred on the graduates, 
according to the course or courses of study pursued. The institution is doing a 
work of great usefulness. The building is an elegant structure of pressed brick 
with freestone trimmings. It is one hundred and fifty feet long, one hundred feet 
Avide, and eighty-five feet high. The basement floor is devoted to chemistry and its 
applications ; the first floor contains the officers' rooms, several lecture-rooms, labora- 
tories and museums ; in the second story are five lecture-rooms and a great hall, 
ninety-five by sixty-five feet ; and above are other lecture-rooms, museums, studies 
for the professors, 
and another large 
hall. It is intend- 
ed to erect another 
building for the mu- 
seum of the Institute. 
The Union Club 
of Boston was found- 
ed in the year 1863, 
for "the encourage- 
ment and dissemina- 
tion of patriotic sen- 
timent and opinion," 
and the condition 
of membership was 
"unqualified loyalty 
to the Constitution 
and the Union of the 
United States, and 
unwavering support 
of the Federal Gov- 
ernment in efforts 
for the suppression 
of the Rebellion." Its view of park street. 

organization is continued to promote social intercourse, and to afford the conven- 
iences of a club-house. A spacious private mansion, formerly the residence of the 
late Abbott Lawrence, on Park Street, was remodelled internallv to fit it for the 




46 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



latter use. The membership, which is limited to six hundred, includes many of the 
best and wealthiest citizens of Boston. It has at present no political character, how- 
ever, and the condition of membership quoted above has been removed. Our sketch 
gives a view of Park Street, with the residence of the late George Ticknor and the 
Union Club House in the foreground. 

The Somerset Club was organized in the j'ear 1852, having grown out of another 

organization known as the Tremont Club, and is now, as it has always been since it 

^- _ took its present name, 

a club for purely social 
purposes. The member- 
ship has heretofore been 
limited to two hundred 
and lift}', but has lately 
been increased to four 
hundred and fifty, and 
Avill soon reach the lim- 
it, recently fixed, of six 
hundred. The Somer- 
set Club occupied until 
the year 1872 the ele- 
gant mansion at the cor- 
ner of Somerset and Bea- 
con Streets ; but a year 
or two ago it purchased 
the magnificent granite 
front mansion on Beacon 
Street, represented in the 
accompanying sketch. 
This house was built by 
the late David Sears, 
Esq., for a private resi- 
dence. The club found 
it necessary to make lit- 
BEAcoN STREET. — THE SOMERSET CLUB. tie altcratiou iw. thc ar- 

rangemont of the rooms, but it has thoroughly refitted and furnished them, and 
added other buildings. 

The Charles Eiver basin, enclosed between Beacon and Charles Streets and the 
bridge to Cambridge, has long been a favorite course for boat-racing. Upon it are 
held the regattas provided by the city for the entertainment of the people on the 
Fourth of July, and private regattas at other times. At the head of the course is 
situated the Union Boat-Club House, an attractive structure, in the Swiss style of 
architecture, having a water frontage of eighty-two feet and commanding a fine view 
of the river. The gj^mnasium, club committee, dressing and bathing rooms, are 
especially adapted to comfort and convenience, and superior boating accommodations 
are provided for the members. The club was organized May 26, 1851, and, Avith per- 
haps one exception, is the oldest boating organization in the country. The present 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



47 



Ijuilding was completed July 3, 1870. The Union had the honor of introducing on 
the Charles the style of rowing without a coxswain, and in September, 1853, rowed 
a race at Hull in which, for the first time in the United States, the boat was steered 
over the course by the bow oar. They were also instrumental in getting up the first 
wherry race on the river, July 4, 1854, won by the then coxswain of the club. In 
1857, the Unions were at the height of their glory, and in June of that year won from 
the *' Harvards " the celebrated Beacon cup, the most beautiful prize ever off"ered in 
Massachusetts for such a race. Champion cups, colors, oars, and medals, are among 
the trophies 
of the mem- 
bers, won 
principally 
previous to 
the Rebel- 
lion,to which 
date the su- 
premacy of 
the Charles 
was held by 
the Union. 
Since the 
construction 
of the new 
house th( 
club has raj)- 
idly gaineil 
in numbei s, 
and now lias 
one hundred 
and thirt} 
active mem- 
bers. 

The Boston 
and Provi- 
dence Rail- 
road has for 

many years occupied for station purposes the building which is represented by our 
sketch. It has answered reasonably well the necessities of the road, but it had 
already begun to be too small to accommodate the growing business, when the com- 
pany was compelled by other circumstances to take action looking to the erection of 
a new station. The fine thoroughfare known as Columbus Avenue was projected to 
inn directly over the land occupied by this station and to terminate in Park Square. 
It was impossible to continue the street northerly bej^ond Berkeley Street until it was 
settled that it was to be opened through. The negotiations between the railroad 
company and the city were protracted, but they came at last to a happy issue, and 
it was decided in the latter part of 1871 that the old station should be removed, 




UNION BOAT-CLl'B, CHARLES KU'ER. 



48 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



and Columbus Avenue extended through to the si^uare. The city paid the large 
sum of $436,000 for the property necessary to carry out this project. The new sta- 
tion, which is already occupied, stands upon land to the northwest of the former 
site. It will be about eight hundred feet in length. The head-house will be in the 
Gothic style of architecture, of brick, trimmed with two shades of sandstone. The 
track-house has a span of one hundred and twenty-tive feet, and is about seven 
^7--^. - -.--- ^. . - , ^ ^ _ hundred feet 

;^^^^- ^^L^^^L4- i^ length. It 

— -^-1?^^ is?5?eft;=5Si - -=- •will cover live 

tracks. The de- 
sign of this new 
station is ad- 
mirable, and 
when complet- 
ed, at an esti- 
mated cost of 
$600,000, it 
will be in every 
way suited to 
meet the great 
and growing 
demands upon 
the company. 
Among the 
"conveniences" 

PKOViniCN'Cr. F^MLKOAU SI AlluN. lu tluS StatlOU 

will be flower, cigar, theatre-ticket, and periodical stands, waiting and dressing rooms 
of ample size, a refreshment-room, a barber' s-shop, and a billiard-room. Tlie 
Providence Eailroad has an excellent local business, serving a great number of the 
towns in Norfolk and Bristol Counties by its main line and branches ; and it also 
forms part of the popular Shore (all rail) and Stonington (rail and steamboat) 
lines to New York. Alone of all the Boston railroads it did not increase either 
local or through charges during or after the war, and though this policy in- 
volved a temporary loss, it has more than justified the far-sighted wisdom that dic- 
tated it. 

In the immediate vicinity of the Providence station is the tract known as the 
Church Street district, where one of the most beneficial enterprises the city has ever 
undertaken has been carried out witliin a few years. The district was low, marshy, 
and unhealthy, but it was covered with permanent buildings. The city undertook 
to raise the whole district, and this it did at an expense of about a million dollars. 
In the course of this operation nearly three hundred brick buildings were raised, 
some of them fourteen feet, and the whole territory was filled in to a uniform height. 
A similar process has been going on for some time in the "Suff"olk Street district," 
and is now nearly completed. 

On the corner of Beacon and Tremont Streets stands the Tremont House, a hotel 
that has for a long time enjoyed a deserved reputation for the excellence of its ac- 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



49 



commodations and its cuisine. This house received President Johnson as a guest 
when he visited Boston on the occasion of the dodication of the ]\Iasonic Temple in 
June, 1867. Its front 
is imposing, though 
plain and devoid of 
ornamentation. Most 
of the leading hotels 
of Boston are in close 
proximity to the centre 
of business, and this is 
especially true of the 
Tremont. Like them, 
it has lately been un- 
dergoing extensive im- 
provements which have 
made it more than ever 
worthy of the excellent 
reputation it bears. 
The Tremont House 
was originally built by 
a company of gentle- 
men ; but it was, in 
1859, purchased for the 
Sears estate, of which 
it now forms a part. 

The Tremont and Re- tremont house. 

vere Houses are both under the same efficient management. 





50 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



51 



IV. THE CENTRAL DISTEICT. 




E come now to a district smaller than either of those that have been 
described, but one that is much more compact in form, and that was, 
until the great fire of November, 1872, more crowded with buildings. 
" It has already been remarked that the physical characteristics of Boston 
determined the limits within which mercantile business could have free and natural 
expansion. The singular and unexplained movements of business, which, never- 
theless, have their almost invariable rules, have given the North End up for the 
most part to retail establishments. In the immediate neighborhood of the wharves 
some branches of wholesale trade still flourish ; and in the neighborhood of Faneuil 
Hall there are large establishments for the supply of household stores and furnishing 
goods of various descriptions ; and there are very few districts in the city which have 




not retail supply stores of all kinds in their immediate neighborhood. But in general 
it may be said that the district bounded by State, Court, Tremont, Boylston, and 
Essex Streets is the business section of the city, and this remark holds true notwith- 
standing a large part of it has been desolated by fire and is still vacant, though rebuild- 



52 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




VIEW OF FRANKLIN STREET AS IT WAS BEFORE THE FIRE. 

iiig is rapidly going on. State Street is the head-quarters of bankers and brokers, — 
the money-centre of the city. Pearl Street was until 1872 the greatest boot and shoe 
market in the world ; and it is curious that, excepting one or two establishments in- 
timately connected with the business, all the buildings on the street were occupied by 
merchants in this special line of trade. On Franklin, Chauncy, Summer, and other 
neighboring streets, were the great establishments that make Boston the leading mar- 
ket of the country for American dry-goods. Boston also stands first among American 
cities in its receipts and sales of wool, and the dealers in this staple were clustered 
within the district we have circumscribed. The wholesale merchants in iron, groceries, 
clothing, paper, in fancy goods and stationery, in books and pictures, in music and 
musical instruments, in jewelry, in tea, coffee, spices, tobacco, wines and liquors, — in 
fact, in all the articles that are necessities or luxuries of our modern civilized life, — 
have still their places of business within it. The retail trade, too, is domiciled here, 
convenient of access to dwellers in the city and shoppers from the suburbs. The army 
of lawyers is within the district, or just upon its borders. The great transportation 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 53 

companies have their offices here, supplemented by the express companies that per- 
form the same business upon a more limited, and yet, in another sense, upon a more 
extended scale. Most of the daily papers are congregated in the immediate vicinity 
of their advertising patrons. And finally, the people come to this part of the city, not 
only to obtain the every- day articles of use, but to listen to lectures, to applaud at 
musical concerts, to weep and smile over dramatic representations. By day and by 
night it is thronged, not by the inhabitants of the district, — for very few residents 
have been able to withstand the onset of business, — but by the dwellers in other 
cities and towns and in other parts of Boston. 

Much that is interesting in Boston's history has occurred in this part of the city, 
but very few of the buildings that are reminders of events long past remain. Even 
Fort Hill, one of the historical three, has been wholly removed, and the broad plain 
where it once stood is now available for building purposes. The earth thus removed 
was used in carrying forward two other gi^eat improvements, — the one to enlarge 
the facilities for rapid and economical transaction of business, the other to convert a 
low, swampy, and unhealthy neighborhood into a dry and well-drained district, — 
the grading of the marginal Atlantic Avenue and the raising of the Suffolk Street 
district. Some of the old landmarks yet remain, and, it is to be hoped, will long 
be permitted to remain as links between the present and the past. 

Before i)roceeding to describe the part of the district which remains covered with 
buildings, it will be well to give a brief account of the great fire that so changed its 
aspect, and in twenty hours made sixty-five acres of land, that had contained the 
most substantial structures in Boston, a desolate waste of trembling walls, tottering 
chimneys, and the ashes of millions of dollars' worth of merchandise. 

The great fire broke out early in the evening of Saturday, November 9, 1872, in 
a large granite building at the corner of Summer and Kingston Streets. The even- 
ing was clear and calm, and there was but one circumstance to indicate that the 
work of extinguishing the fire might be more difficult than usual. The singular dis- 
ease known as the epizootic had but recently attacked almost all the horses in the 
city, disabling them from work. A few of the animals had partially recovered, in- 
cluding some of those belonging to the fire department. "Whether the lack of horses 
fit for work did or did not cause a delay in the arrival of the engines has ever since 
been a disputed point, although the records of the fire department seem to indicate 
that the arrivals were as prompt as usual. It seems certain from the evidence 
brought before the commissioners appointed by the city government, that there was 
a long delay in giving an alarm, and the fire had gained great headway before the 
first engine amved on the spot. 

It was at once seen that vigorous Avork would be needed, and one alarm rapidly 
succeeded another until the entire department, even from the most remote parts of 
the city, had been summoned to the spot. The fire ran rapidly througli the building 
in which it originated, leajiing up the "elevator" and seizing upon the large amount 
of combustible material with which the upper stories were filled. It quickly crossed 
both Kingston and Summer Streets, and fastened upon three buildings at once. 
The force that had arrived was altogether insufficient to cope with the enemy, 
and even if there had been a still larger number of fire-engines there was now 
a new difficulty. The water-pipes had been laid in tlie streets of this district 



54 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




THE SPOT WHERE THE FIRE BE(JAN. 

when it was a part of the district covered by dwelling-houses. They were too small 
to carry rapidly the enormous quantities of water that were now required. The 
hydrants, too, were old-fashioned, and not adapted to the purpose. Difficulties were 
multiplying rapidly, and all this time the fire was spreading more and more beyond 
the control of the firemen. 

The flames, having crossed Kingston and Summer Streets, spread in all directions. 
They crept slowly up Summer Street on both sides towards Washington Street, more 
rapidly down the street towards the wharves, southward towards the Albany Eailroad 
Station, and northward into the very heart of the wholesale business houses. The 
progress in the last-named direction was most rapid of all, chiefly because there was 
no point where the firemen could make a stand against the fire. The streets were 
narrow, and the buildings were very high and closely packed together. 

In an hour or two the fire was absolutely beyond the control of any force of fire- 
pien that could have been mustered to fight it. Despatches had been hurriedly sent 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED, 55 

to all the suburban cities and towns, and reinforcements were constantly coming. 
The borrowed engines were stationed wherever there seemed to be a chance of doing 
anything to check the flames, but at most all that could be done was to delay their 
irresistible advance. The circle was constantly widening, and the fire was steadily 
increasing in fury. The most strenuous exertions were made to prevent it from 
marching up Summer Street to Trinity Church. If the fire had been confined to 
one line of approach, this might have been done ; but it Avorked its way round to the 
rear of Trinity and leaped across Otis and Hawley Streets, reaching Washington 
Street farther up. At midnight the fire was practically checked on the south side 
by hard work and skilful use of the hose, but by that time the whole south side of 
Summer Street below Chauncy to the water, including .the Hartford and Erie Railroad 
Station, had been destroyed. In no other direction was there the least check upon 
its progress. 

Those who closely observed the phenomena of this catastrophe remarked that the 
wonderful rapidity with which it spread seemed in no case to be caused by the 
direct contact with flame. A stream of burning cinders and brands passed for hours 
over Congress Street, covering the roofs and the street so that it was difficult to walk 
through the street ; and yet not a building took fire. But the intense heat from the 
burning buildings, converted into so many furnaces " heated seven times hotter," 
passed through thick Avails, and caused other buildings to burst into flame all at 
once, from roof to basement. This was particularly noticeable when the fire crossed 
a street. A whole block of houses on one side would be burning furiously when not 
a spark of flame could be seen on the other side. All at once the fire would burst 
out almost simultaneously along the whole line, and in less time than it takes to 
write it the roofs would be falling in and the walls tumbling with a loud crash. 

The path of the fire, when once it had been checked on the south, was fan-shaped. 
It spread to the left towards Washington Street, to the right towards the wharves. 
It seized upon and devoured the magnificent dry-goods and clothing warehouses of 
Winthrop Square and Franklin Street. It advanced with resistless force upon the 
great wool-houses of Congress Street, the boot and shoe warehouses on Pearl 
Street, and the leather- stores of High Street. It Avas evident that the point Avhich 
could be held Avith the best prospect of success Avas Washington Street. To that 
point it must come. Beyond that point it must not be permitted to go. The loss 
otherAvise Avould be frightful. It Avas a noble sight, the line of firemen AA'ith their 
engines on that street, alternately flooding the buildings on the Avest side and striv- 
ing to diminish the heat from the burning stores on the east side by copious streams 
of AA'ater. The Avails fell into the street, the AvindoAvs on the other side of the street 
Avere cracked by heat, the firemen Avere driven back here and there, but the line Avas 
held, and the great district Avest of Washington Street AA'as saved. 

The next task Avas to naiTow the path of the fire. The point selected Avas Milk 
Street at the Old South Church. Here, too, a gallant stand Avas made, and the 
north line of Milk Street Avas saved as far doAA^n as beloAV the ncAV Post-Office. Else- 
where every effort had been utterly AA'ithout aA^ail. The firemen Avere driven succes- 
sively from point to point before the flames. Many citizens Avaited on the chief 
engineer, and urged him to try the remedy of gunpoAvder. The chief refused for 
a long time, but yielded at last, and the expedient Avas tried in several places ; it 
utterly failed, hoAvever, to accomplish any good purpose. 



56 BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 

At about three o'clock in the morning was the grandest scene of the fire. The 
flames had crossed Congi-ess Street and had reached the westerly side of Pearl Street 
along the whole line. Most of the boot and shoe dealers on the easterly side had 
ample time to remove large parts of their stocks to the vacant space left after the 
removal of Fort Hill, and on that space were collected thousands of men, women, 
and children. Here one could see a little boy put to bed in the open air with a shoe- 
box for a bedstead, lying on a heap of coats and trousers, sheltered by an open um- 
brella from the cold wind that blew towards the fire from all sides, as well as from the 
heat of the fire itself. Near by could be seen men and women sneaking away with 
cases of stolen shoes, perhaps of a pattern and size that could do them not the least 
good. . Others stood watching their rescued goods or directing the removal, while the 
greater part were gazing upon the magnificent sight before them. 

The flames seized almost simultaneously upon every store on the eastern side of 
Pearl Street, and in a very few minutes they were all a mass of roaring, dazzling 
fire. This was almost the only unobstructed view of any large section of the fire 
that could be obtained during the night. At a distance of several hundred feet the 
heat was so intense that the burning buildings could be faced only with great diffi- 
culty. The inmiensely deep and high warehouses were converted into so many fur- 
naces. The walls grew red-hot, and bricks and granite melted. The floor timbers 
at last began to fall, and, striking against the walls, threw them down. Lofty walls 
of brick breaking near the foundations fell vertically, crumbling into a confused 
mass. A quarter of an hour was sufficient to convert what was a row of solid, ele- 
gant stnictures, filled with valuable merchandise, into a bewildering heap of smoking 
ruins. 

The Fort Hill District, which had been left almost entirely vacant after the removal 
of the hill itself, proved the salvation of the northern part of the city. Near the 
wharves there was a narrow strip of buildings where it Avas comparatively easy to 
stop the progi-ess of the fire. The path of the flames was now narrowed down to 
the space between the corner of High and Oliver Streets and the new Post-Office. 
The firemen were really beginning to succeed, not only in circumscribing the limits 
of the burning district, but in delaying the progress of the enemy. It nevertheless 
proceeded farther northward, crossing Milk, Water, and Lindall Streets, finally 
coming to an end in the rear of the old Merchants' Exchange, then used as a post- 
office, late in the afternoon of Sunday, the 10th of November. 

The mayor, referring to the great calamity in his annual address, delivered in 
December, gives the following statistics and makes the following observations on the 
event : — 

"Considering the small extent of territory covered, — about sixty-five acres,— 
and the short time that the fire had been burning, the amount of property destroyed 
Avas unparalleled. The whole number of buildings destroyed (exclusive of those 
slightly damaged) was 776, of Avhich 709 were of brick and stone, and 67 of wood. 
The assessors' valuation of these buildings amounts to $13,591,300, and it is esti- 
mated that to replace them would cost at least $18,000,000. The value of personal 
property destroyed was about $60,000,000. The number of estates within the dis- 
trict covered by the fire was about 550. The loss of life was comparatively small, 
owing to the fact that but few dwelling-houses Avere burned, and that those em- 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



57 




THE POST-OFFICE AS A BARRIER TO THE FIRE. 

ployed in mercantile or manufacturing pursuits in the buildings wliicli were destroyed 
had retired before the fire broke out. Only fourteen persons are known to have lost 
their lives ; and of this number seven Avere firemen. 

" The gallant manner in which the members of the fire department of this city, and 
the members of organizations from other cities and towns, performed the heroic ser- 
vices required of them is worthy of the highest commendation. The universal 
expressions of sympathy and gratitude, and the generous contributions for the 
relief of those who were injured, are the best evidence of the estimation in Avhich 
their services are held. The arduous duties performed by the members of the police 
department, and by the military organizations, in preserving order and protecting 
property, during and after the fire, entitles them to the public gratitude. And in 
this connection I cannot forbear mentioning the valuable and disinterested services 
of those gentlemen who came to the aid and support of the municipal authorities on 
the night of the fire. While the flames were still spreading, they instituted meas- 



58 BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 

ures of relief and restoration which prevented distress and preserved the credit of 
the city." 

The references made by Mayor Pierce need some explanation. While the flames 
were still baffling the firemen there were large meetings of influential citizens to 
organize measures for the relief of suff'ering. There w^re but a very few dwelling- 
houses destroyed by the fire, but it was apprehended that there might be much dis- 
tress nevertheless. The great clothing-houses, employing a small army of sewing 
women, were all destroyed, and it was feared that there would be much suff'ering 
among those thrown out of work before the winter was over. Many clerks, male 
and female, must necessarily remain unemployed for a longer or a shorter time. 
Some mechanics had lost all their tools. A host of small tradesmen had been 
greatly embarrassed in their business. It was not easy to estimate the amount that 
would be needed to relieve the distress, and a committee was at once organized to 
solicit, receive, and disburse funds to be given in aid of the work of charity. A dis- 
cussion quickly arose, which was attended with perhaps unnecessary acrimony, on 
the question whether aid should be asked or accepted from other cities. Despatches 
announcing that money and any necessary articles would be sent if they would be 
accepted were constantly received, Chicago, which had suffered more than Boston by 
a similar calamity only a year before, conspicuously leading all other cities in gen- 
erous off'ers of contributions. The discussion referred to had the effect to discourage 
subscriptions outside of Boston. It subsequently appeared that no such contribu- 
tions w'ould be required, and the amounts accepted in the early days of uncertainty 
as to the wisdom of taking them were returned with grateful acknowledgments to 
the donors. The total amount received in money by the committee of relief was 
$341,913.68, of which ;$19,198 was returned as above stated. The work of relief was 
not so extensively organized as was that of Chicago after tlie great fire of 1871, 
because it was not necessary. All that was required was done, and the distress in 
Boston during the winter of 1872-73 was less than during any preceding '\,inter 
for many years. 

The lawless were not slow to take advantage of the opportunities for plunder 
afforded by the fire. The disorder was so great, and the district to be watched was 
so extensive, that the police were almost powerless to put a stop to depredations. 
There has never been an estimate of the property lost by its owners from this cause, 
and any accurate estimate is quite out of the question. But it was seen, as early 
as Sunday morning, — the police having abandoned the practice of arresting thieves 
because the stations were filled so rapidly with this class of law-breakers, — that 
society was in a dangerous state, and that vigorous measures must be adopted. No 
time was lost in calling out a brigade of the militia for active duty. A cordon of 
sentinels was stretched entirely around the burnt district, and companies were sta- 
tioned in various parts of the city to be ready for any emergency. The Old South 
Church, once used as a riding-school for the British cavalry, became a barrack of 
Massachusetts militia. One company was kept under arms in the yard of the City 
Hall, and guards patrolled exposed points all night in lieu of the regular guardians 
of the peace. For several days Boston was under true military government, so far 
as the police arrangements were concerned, and in that time the public mind had 
time to calm down and to recover its usual self-control. The praise bestowed on 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 59 

the militia was well deserved. A very difficult task was assigned to it, and it was 
discharged with much less cause of complaint than might have been feared. The 
air seemed to be peculiarly favorable to the destructiveness of fire. The alarms 
for two or three weeks after that terrible Saturday and Sunday were more frequent 
than for a long time before, and the destruction wrought would have excited much 
anxiety if it had taken place before the great fire. The people were in a very ner- 
vous and excitable condition, and any departure from the course of wisdom, by the 
military organizations, might have led to calamities even worse than the fire. 

At the request of the City Council, Governor Washburn called the Legislature 
in extra session to pass some acts deemed necessary for the temporary or perma- 
nent relief of the city. There were several projects for improving the topography 
of the burnt district by straightening, widening, and extending old streets, and lay- 
ing out new ones. The Boston fire-insurance companies were nearly all crushed by 
the immense load thrown upon them, and with a few exceptions all the companies 
of the State were also bankrupt. It was thought to be wise to give them an oppor- 
tunity to reorganize, if they chose, under new charters. Again, it was urged that 
the city in its corporate capacity might greatly assist in rebuilding by issuing its 
bonds on mortgages of property in the burnt district, and the Legislature was asked 
to sanction the giving of aid in this way. The Legislature met, and after a session 
of several weeks adjourned, having passed a general Lisurance Corporation Law, under 
which some corporations have been formed, and an act to authorize the issue of re- 
building bonds. The management and rearrangement of streets, it was thought after 
further consideration, was sufficiently in the power of the city authorities already. 
A Building Law was also passed, to prevent the erection of structures that would, 
like those destroyed by the great fire, prove only so many furnaces and as so much 
kindling-wood to hasten the development of great conflagrations. But there were 
many interests to be consulted, and much opposition to a really effective enactment. 
Consequently the result of much discussion and numerous amendments was an act 
which was wholly .satisfactory to nobody ; and the new Legislature, in its regular ses- 
sion, found it necessary to remodel the law extensively. The Supreme Court of the 
State has since pronounced the loan act unconstitutional, and though some of the 
minor acts of the extra session have stood the test, there is a general feeling that it 
would have been quite as well for Boston if it had never been held. Efforts were 
made in Congress to obtain some measure of relief for the merchants, and for those 
intending to build ; but nothing was done, and those who waited in the hope of 
favorable legislation were giievously disappointed. 

We have now finished our general review of the fire and its consequences. There 
remain, however, some things yet to be said, but these can best be said in connec- 
tion with the diff"erent buildings and districts, which are now to be described. 

Although this is pre-eminently the business section of the city, it contains several 
public and serai-public buildings which perhaps deserve the first attention. And the 
list should properly be headed by the magnificent City Hall, which is one of the 
most imposing and perfect specimens of architecture in the city. It has been said 
already that Faneuil Hall was occupied for town purposes from the time of its erec- 
tion until after the constitution of the city government. It was in 1830 that the city 
offices were removed to the Old State House, which had been remodelled for the pur- 



60 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



pose. But only a few years elapsed before it became absolutely necessary to remove 
thence. Successive city governments having refused to sanction the erection of a 
suitable City Hall, as recommended by nearly every mayor, the old Court House, 
which stood on a part of the site of the present City Hall, was converted into a 
city building in 1840, and all the offices of the city were removed thither. This 
was, however, but a temporary expedient, and the old difficulties began to arise 
again, with increased vexation to the crowded officers and the unfortunate public. 

In 1850 the ques- 
tion of making 
additions to the 
old City Hall or 
of erecting a new 
one reappeared in 
the city council ; 
and the records 
show that from 
that time hardly a 
year passed with- 
out a recommen- 
dation of decided 
action by the may- 
or, and an abortive 
attempt in the city 
council to pass an 
order for carrying 
that recommenda- 
tion into effect, 
until a beginning 
was finally made 
by the passage of 
the necessary or- 
ders in 1862. The 
„ 1 1 f 1 . sum originally 

asked for and appropriated was $160,000. The committee which reported the plan 
expressed the belief -that the building as proposed can be erected of suitable mate- 
rials, for this sum, "if contracted for during the present year." The value of 
estimates is shown by the fact, that the building actually cost, before it was occu- 
pied, more than half a million dollars, of which less than seventy-five thousand dol- 
larsMvere paid for' work not included in the original estimate. However, the people 
01 l^oston long ago ceased to complain of the unexpectedly large addition to what 
they had been at first asked to invest in a city building. 

The corner-stone was laid on the 22d of December, 1862, - the anniversary of the 
landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. The building was completed and dedicated on 
the 18th of September, 1865. The tablet in the wall back of the first landing per- 
petuates in beautifully worked marble the statement that the dedication took place 
on the 1/th of September. That day would have been highly appropriate for the 




CITY HALL. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



61 



ceremony, being tlie two hundred and tliirty-fiftli anniversary of the settlement of 
Boston, had it not fallen on Sunday. The ceremony was accordingly postponed 
until the following day. 

The style in which this building has been erected is the Italian Renaissance, with 
modifications and elaborations suggested by modern French architects. The mate- 
rial of the exterior is the finest Concord granite. The interior is equally as per- 
fect in its arrangement as is the exterior in its beauty and richness. The Louirre 
dome, which is surmounted by an Ameiican eagle and a flagstaff, is occupied within 
by some of the most important offices of the city. Here is the central point of the fire- 
alarm telegi'aphs. An alarm from the most distant part of the city is communicated 
instantaneously to the watchful operator, who is on duty day and night ; and almost 
before the nervous hand of him who gave the alarm has done its work, the bells in 
all parts of the city are tolling out the number of the district in v/hich a fire has 
been discovered, 

and the engines -^^^^^ _ 

summoned to ex- "1^-::=^^^^ 

tingiush it are pro- 

ceeding at full 
speed toward it. 
All the officers of 
the city have com- 
modious and com- 
fortable quarters 
within the build- 
ing ; and although 
the city council 
had an eye from 
the first to the pos- 
sibility that the 
building would b^ 
and by need to l- 
enlarged to accom- 
modate the city 
government when 
Boston should have 



grown m impor- 
tance and Avealth 
and population, 

there has been as yet little inconvenience or crowding, even since the absorption 
of Roxburv and Dorchester. 

In the lawn in front of the City Hall stands the bronze statue of Benjamin 
Franklin, which was formally inaugurated, with much pomp and ceremony, on the 
17th of September, 1856. It originated in a suggestion made by the Hon. Robert 
C. Winthrop, in an address before, the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Asso- 
ciation in 1852. The association took up the matter with enthusiasm, and was 
joined l)y a large number of citizens. A public subscription to the amount of nearly 




CUSTOM-HOUSE. 



62 BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 

f 20, 000 furnislied the means. The artist was Mr. R. S. Greenough, who was born 
ahnost within sight of the Boston State House, and all the work from beginning to 
end was done in the State. The statue is eight feet in height, and stands upon a 
pedestal of verd antique marble, resting on a base of Quincy granite. In the die 
are four sunken panels, in which are placed bronze medallions, each representing an 
important event in the life of the great Bostonian to Avhose memory the statue was 
raised. 

The Custom House, on State Street, was begun in 1837, two years after it had 
been authorized by Congress, and was twelve years in building. It is in the form of 
a Greek cross, and the exterior is in the pure Doric style of architecture. The 
walls, columns, and even the entire roof, are of granite. The massive columns, 
which entirel}^ surround the building, are thirty-two in number. Each of them is 
five feet two inches in diameter and thirty-two feet high, and weighs about forty-two 
tons. The building rests upon about three thousand piles. It is supposed to be 
entirely fireproof, and it is so undoubtedly from without. It cost upwards of a 
million dollars, including the site and the foundations. President Jackson signed 
the resolution authorizing its erection ; but President Polk's term had been nearly 
completed when the new Custom House was first opened. It has already become 
somewhat dingy within, and is attractive only after the spring and fall cleaning and 
whitewashing. 

On the 16th of October, 1871, was laid the corner-stone of what will be, when 
cpmi^leted, the finest public building in New England. Our sketch shows what 
the new Post-Office is designed to be. It has a front of over two hundred feet on 
Devonshire Street, occupying the whole square between Milk and Water Streets. 
The following description of the architect's design was printed in the newspapers, on 
the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone : "A noble basement or street story of 
twenty-eight feet in height, formed by a composition of pilasters and columns resting 
on heavy plinths or pedestals of the sidewalk level, and crowned with an entablature, 
carries two stories above it, both of which are enriched by ornate windows, and dress- 
ings admirably in keeping with the best examples of the style selected. The princi- 
pal entablature of the exterior walls will be singularly effective in detail, upon which 
will be seated one of the most conspicuous roofs yet introduced in any structure, 
public or private, erected in this country. In the several faces of the street sides of 
this roof are to be placed highly burnished dormer windows, intended to be con- 
structed of stone or iron, above which the top of the roof will be finished with 
cornice and facia, forming the seating of the bronze grille, intended to enclose the 
entire upper section or flat of the roof. In idealizing the roof of the structure, the 
architect has introduced several exceedingly novel and expressive features of finish, 
avoiding, it is believed, the sameness of expression which too often characterizes the 
* Louvre ' and ' Mansard ' roofs. The Devonshire Street fa9ade will be subdivided 
into five compartments by a 'central projection' flanked by two 'curtains,' 
finishing at the corners of "Water and Milk with 'pavilions.' The 'central 
projection ' and the two pavilions will be respectively subdivided in their height by 
orders of pilasters, columns, entablatures, and bahistrades, and the curtain finish is 
to be dependent for its effect upon the window dressing and attached entablatures 
and balustrades, excepting in the first or street story, where the order of the first or 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



63 




THE NEW POST-OFFICE. 

street story Wore refemd to is to be carried uniformly thronglr the entire length of 
he three street faeades. The principal central entrance rn the Devonshire Meet 

fXde — latlwithahroid staircase, located in a nol,le hall commnnrcatrng 
Sec ly w h the second, third, and fourth stories. The rema.mng entrances of 
l^r side of the building give access to the Post-Offlce corridor, twelve feet m he g t, 

:^r::irti:\he strong Wo .^^^^^^^^ ^^^^:^::jrzi z 
z::^f '-:iSz::;:^r;tt-irr::rt: s^^ 

frihtl Denshire Street front aforesaid. Two groups of statuary are designed m 
h central Fojection of the Devonshire Street side, -one of them « cro™ h 
^r „c pal enLice, and the other group to surmount the fine stone a*- jh <J 
covers'the central projection, and faces the more eleva ed P°*«" f * / f ,„"\° 
that side of the structure. The central group of statuary, on the attic, is to De 
flanked hy sculptured eagles, respectively located over the two outer comers of the 

""men the " corner-stone " ^va. laid, the edifice had already been nearly finished to 
thr^po the treet story ; but the occasion was a favorable one for a st-t parad 
and the presence of the President of the United States and several members of h 
clbin t added to the interest of the ceremonies. At the time of the great fire this 



64 BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



made it a bulwark against the flames. There was but little woodwork exposed, and 
with some exertion the lire was prevented from obtaining ingress into the build- 
ing. But the Milk Street fagade was greatly injured by the intense heat. The 
graceful columns and the massive blocks of granite forming the side of the building 
were cracked and split, so that a partial i-econstruction of that face has bec'ome ne- 
cessary. The fire caused still further change in the plans. It was originally in- 
tended to cover a much larger site with this magnificent structure than was after- 
wards deemed sufficient. The difficulty of procuring the land at all, and the high 
price asked for it, combined to lead to the decision to cover only one half of the 
s([uare bounded by Congress, Milk, Devonshire, and Water Streets. The fire cleared 
away the buildings on that part of the square not occupied by the Post-Office, and 
caused a return to the original idea. Congress was asked to make an additional 
appropriation of three quarters of a million dollars to buy the remaining land and 
extend the building over it. Consent was readily given on condition that the streets 
surrounding the Post-Office should be widened so as to give additional protection 
against fire, and improve the architectural appearance of the edifice. To this con- 
dition there was verj'^ serious opposition on the part of those whose estates would 
have their value impaired by the widenings^ and by some others who thought the 
taxes already sufiiciently heavy without burdening the city with a new load of in- 
debtedness on account of expensive street improvements. But in spite of all oppo- 
sition the requisite legislation has been passed, and the ;ippropriation to enlarge the 
building has therefore been secured. 

The Boston Post-Office has been a migratory institution for a long time. During 
the siege of Boston it Avas removed to Cambridge, but was brought back again after 
the evacuation of the town by the British. In the last ninety-six years it has been 
removed at least ten times. For the eleven years immediately preceding the fire it was 
in the Merchants' Exchange Building in State Steet, that being its third occupation 
of those quarters. As has already been said, the fire came to an end in the rear of 
the IMerchants' Exchange Building, but the Post-Office had been removed, to the last 
transient newspaper, before the fire reached the building. Faneuil Hall was quickly 
transformed into a Post-Office, and the delivery of mails was begun on Monday 
morning, the day after the removal. There was a controversy as to the possibility 
of repairing the former quarters so that they might be safely occupied again, which 
ended in a decision that the Merchants' Exchange should not be again used as a 
Post-Office ; and the upshot of the matter was that, after a few weeks of crowding 
and inconvenience, and unsatisfactory mail-service, the Post-Office was removed to 
the Old South Church. Some explanation of the final contest over the occupation 
of that famous edifice may be found in another place. 

The government has never owned the building in which the Boston Post-Office 
has been located. In the magnificent structure now building, the upper stories will 
be occupied by the sub-treasury, which at present has its quarters in the Custom- 
House, having been, like the Post-Office, ejected from the Merchants' Exchange 
Building. The new Post-Office has already been in process of erection more than 
three years, and no period has yet been fixed for its completion and occupation. The 
entire cost to the government will probably reach three million dollars. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



65 



The County Court House in Court Square was erected in 1833, and is a substan- 
tial but plain and gloomy-looking building. There has been for some time past a 

movement in favor 

of a new court-house. 

Thus far there has 

been no agreement 

as to a suitable site, 

and no decisive step 

has been taken for a 

removal from the 

present inconvenient 

building and noisy 

neighborhood. The 
United States Courts 

occupy the building 

at the corner of Tem- 

jile Place and Tre- 

mont Street, — a 

structure of very fine 

appearance and well 

suited to its present 

use. This building 

was erected in 1830 

by the Freemasons 

of Massachusetts as 

a Masonic tenrnle ^"^^ haul's church and the united states court-house. 

but it was subsequently used as warerooms for Chickering's pianos, and finally it was 

purchased by the United States government and fitted up as a court-house. Its 

architecture is quite unique. The walls are of Quincy gi-anite cut into triangular 

blocks. The eff'ect is not unpleasant, but it is surprising that the Masons of all 
others should have departed from their established rule of " square work." With its 
two massive towers, its long arched windows,- and its sombre general aspect, the 
suggestion of the building is rather that of a church than of a court-house. 

Our view also includes a sketch of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, adjoining the 
Court-House. The society worshipping in this church was formed in 1819, and the 
corner-stone was laid on the 4th of September of that year. The edifice was com- 
pleted, and consecrated by the bishops of Massachusetts and Connecticut on the 30tli 
of June, 1820. It has since been extensively remodelled in the interior. The walls 
of this church are of a fine gray granite, but the Ionic columns in front are of Poto- 
mac sandstone laid in courses. The rector of this church is the Rev. Mr. Walden, 
who began his labors in St. Paul's during the spring of 1873. 

Two of the oldest church-buildings in the city are left within the limits of 
the Central District, surrounded by business structures, and one of them already 
given up to business purposes. The Old South Society was the third Congregational 
Society in Boston, and was organized in 1669, in consequence of a curious theological 
quarrel in the First Church. The first church building of this society, erected in 




66 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



1669, stood for sixty years. It was of cedar, and it had a steeple and galleries, 
with the pulpit on the north side. It was taken down in 1729, when the present 

building was erected on the same spot, 
and religious services were held in it* 
for the first time on the 26th of April, 
1730 (0. S.). This meeting-house is 
perhaps the most noted church edifice 
in the United States. It is internally 
very quaint and interesting. Its sound- 
ing-board over the pulpit, its high, 
square box-pews, its double tier of gal- 
leries, in fact its whole appearance, at- 
tract the visitor's attention, and lead him 
to inquire into its history if he does not 
already know it. But a tablet high 
above the entrance on the "Washington 
Street side of the tower gives concisely 
the main facts. The Old South is fre- 
quently mentioned on the pages devoted 
to the history of Boston before and dur- 
ing the Revolution. When the meetings 
of citizens became too large to be accom- 
modated in Faneuil Hall, then much 
smaller than now, they adjourned to 
this church. Here Joseph Warren stood 
and delivered his fearless oration, on the 
anniversary of the massacre of March 5, 
1770, in defiance of the threats of those 
in authority, and in the presence of a marshalled soldiery. Here were held the 
series of meetings that culminated in the destruction of the detested tea, on 
which the determined colonists Avould pay no tax. In 1775, the British soldiers, 
eager to insult those by whom they were so cordially hated, but whom they 
held so completely in their power, occupied this meeting-house as a riding- 
school, and place for cavalry drill. They established a grog-shop in the lower 
gallery, which they partially preserved for spectators of their sport. The rest of 
the galleries were torn down, and the whole interior was stripped of its woodwork. 
The floor they covered with about two feet of dirt. At this time the church was 
without a pastor, and no new pastor was ordained until 1779. In 1782 the building 
was thoroughly repaired and put in very much its late condition. The first Elec- 
tion sermon was delivered in the Old South Church in 1712, and the ancient custom 
was regularly observed up to, and including, the year 1872. As soon as the two 
branches of the Legislature had met and organized, the Governor was notified that 
the General Court "is ready to attend Divine service," the procession was formed, 
and the State government marched to this historic building to hear a sermon by a 
preacher designated by the preceding Legislature. But the last Election sermon has 
been preached in the Old South Church. Having defied the fire, it has succumbed 




OLD SOUTH CHURCH BEFORE THE FIRE. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



67 



to business, and henceforth Divine service will be attended by the State Government 
in the Hall of Representatives. 

Soon after the fire the idea of using the Old South for a post-office was brought 
forward. It met with great acceptance and great opposition. On the one hand, the 
pew-holders were known to be favorable to a proposition to dispose of their church 
property by lease or sale, and the j)ostmaster had been authorized to make a very 
liberal offer of rent for it. They had long before purchased a site for a new church 
edifice on the Back Bay, and the disposal of the property on "Washington Street 
would enable them to go forward and build. There seemed to be very few vacant or 
obtainable places suitable as head-quarters for the mail service. Faneuil Hall was 
inaccessible and inconvenient. The Old South was admirably situated and suffi- 
ciently large. The objections were almost wholly sentimental, but they were strenu- 
ously urged. The church was an historic edifice, actually in the hands of a few 
pew-holders, but regarded with a loving reverence by men and women of all re- 
ligious views throughout the entire country. It was urged that it was unnecessary 
to "desecrate" the sacred building with business, as the former quarters of the Post- 
Office might be readily repaired. The controversy was heated. It was waged at 
every point. Long debates were held by the pew-holders, a minority protesting 
against the manner in which the resolution to lease had been carried. An applica- 
tion to the Legislature was necessary, as the society could not devote the meeting- 
house to other than religious purposes without a special act : accordingly the contest 
was transferred _ _ _ _ 

to that arena , -3^ ~^— ~ ^^^Kzz^^ j^T^TSfT" 

able counsel __,^^^" 

were employed """"^ ~ 

by both sides to 
present the ar 
guments befoie 
the committee , 
and when a re- 
port had been 
made in favor 
of conferring 
authority to 
lease upon the 
trustees, the 
bill was fought 
in both branch- 
es of the Leg 
islature. The 
measure was fi- 
nally carried , 
the inside of 
the church was 

remodelled, and '^"''''^ ''"^ 

the mails were transferred to the building in which so many historical scenes had 




58 BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 

been enacted, and wMch had so often rung with the words of patriotic and religious 
eloquence. 

King's Chapel, too, standing at the corner of School and Tremont Streets, has its 
history, hardly less interesting than that of the Old South. It is, as is well known, 
the successor of the first Episcopalian church in Boston. There were a few of the 
early settlers in the town who belonged to the Church of England. Very timidly 
did they ask in 1646 for liberty to establish their form of worship here "till^ incon- 
veniences hereby be found prejudicial to the churches and Colony." Very decidedly 
were they rebuffed, and no more was heard of the matter for many years. The Church 
of England service was, however, introduced by the chaplain to the commissioners 
from Charles II. in 1665, and from that time there was little hindrance to their forms. 
Nevertheless, it was not until twelve years after this that a church was actually 
formed, and not until 1686 that steps were taken to erect a buihiing to accom- 
modate it. Governor Andros in that year greatly offended the consciences of 
the Old South people by determining to occupy the Old South for an Episcopal 
church, and by compelling them to yield to him in this matter, though very much 
against their will. However, about that time, the church Avas built on a part of the 
lot where stands the present building. It is not possible to ascertain how the land 
was procured for the purpose ; and some have believed that Andros appropriated it 
in the exercise of the supreme power over the soU which he claimed by virtue of the 
delegated authority of the King. However, the church was built there, and by the 
middle of July, 1689, it was occupied. In 1710 the building was enlarged, but by 
the middle of the century it had fallen to decay, and it Avas voted to rebuild with 
stone. The present building was first used for Divine service August 21, 1754. 
During the British occupation of the town it was left unharmed. Not only was 
this the first Episcopal church in Boston, it was also the first Unitarian church. 
"While the Old South Meeting-house was undergoing repairs of the injuries sustained 
in its occupation as a military riding-school, the society of King's Chapel gave to 
the former society the free use of the Stone Church. When the Old South people 
returned to their OAvn house, the proprietors of King's Chapel voted to return to 
their old form of worship, with extensive alterations in the liturgy, adapting the 
Church of England service to the Unitarian doctrine. 

Adjoining this ancient church is the first burial-ground established in Boston. 
It is not exactly known when it was first devoted to the burial of the dead. There 
is some dispute over the question Avhether Mr. Isaac Johnson, one of the most 
prominent of the colonists, and also one of the first to pass away, was or was not 
buried here. It is, however, certain that this was the only graveyard in Boston 
for the first thirty years after the settlement. The visitor to this yard will be apt 
to notice the very singular arrangement of gi-avestones alongside the paths. They 
were taken from their original positions years ago, by a city officer, who was certainly 
gifted with originality, and reset, without the slightest reference to their former 
uses or positions, as edgestones or fences to the paths. Notwithstanding this not 
very praiseworthy improvement, which leads one to wonder how much further it was 
carried, there are still many very old gravestones in this yard. Three, at least, date 
back to the year 1658. One of these stones has a history. At some time after the 
interment of the good deacon it commemorated, the stone was removed and lost ; 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 69 

but it was discovered in 1830 near tlie Old State House, several feet below the 
surface of State Street. It is of gi'een stone, and bears this inscription : — 

HERE : LYETH 

THE : BODY : OF : Mr 

WILLIAM : PADDY : AGED 

58 YEARS : DEPARTED 

THIS : LIFE : AUGUST : THE [28] 

1658. 

On the reverse is this singular stanza of poetry : — 

HEAR . SLEAPS . THAT 
BLESED . ONE . WHOES . LIEF 
GOD . HELP . VS . ALL . TO . LIVE 
THAT . SO . WHEN . TIEM . SHALL . BE 
THAT . WE . THIS . WORLD , MUST . LIUE 
WE . EVER . MAY . BE . HAPPY 
WITH . BLESSED . WILLIAM PADDY. 

A gi'eat many distinguished men of the early time were buried in this enclosure, 
and several of the tombs and headstones still bear the ancient inscriptions. The 
tomb of the Winthrops contains the ashes of Governor John Winthrop, and of his 
son and gi-andson, who were governors of Connecticut. All three, however, died 
in Boston, and were buried in the same tomb. Not far away is a horizontal tablet, 
from the inscription on which we learn that "here lyes intombed thebodyes" of 
four "famous reverend and learned pastors of the first church of Christ in Boston," 
namely, John Cotton, John Davenport, John Oxenbridge, and Thomas Bridge, In 
this abode of the dead are also the graves and the remains of many of the most famous 
men of the early days of Boston, — the Sheafes, the Brattles, and the Savages, among 
others. The next to the oldest stone remaining in the yard is that of ^Mr. Jacob 
Sheafe, one of the richest merchants of his time, who died in 1658. This burying- 
ground has not been used for interments for a very long time. It is occasionally 
opened to visitors, and well repays a visit, though all the inscriptions on all the tomlis 
and stones were long ago copied and published. 

One other church edifice, which stood for months after the fire one of the most 
picturesque relics of the great conflagration, but of which hardly a vestige now 
remains, should be mentioned in this connection. Our sketch represents Trinity 
Church as it appeared in ruins. Trinity parish is an offshoot from the King's 
Chapel congregation. In 1728 that church had become so crowded that it was pro- 
posed to erect a new Episcopal church for the southern part of the town. It was not, 
however, until 1734, that the corner-stone of Trinity was laid at the corner of Hawley 
and Summer Streets. In 1735 the building was opened for worship, and some 
years later the Rev. Addington Davenport became its first rector. The original 
edifice was of wood, with neither tower nor external ornament. It was a plain, 
barn-like structure, with a gambrel roof, and standing gable-end to Summer Street. 



70 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



71 



Inside, however, it was the most elegant church of the day in Boston. General 
Washington attended service in the old Trinity Church when he was in Boston in 
1789. This church very early became one of the most famous Episcopal churches 
in Massachusetts. Its rectors were men of remarkable eloquence, and perhaps there 
have been more bishops appointed from the list of its ministers and assistant minis- 
ters than from any other church in the country. In 1828 the old wooden structure 
was taken down, and the late handsome granite structure erected on its site. Until 
within a few years the congregation had been well accommodated in and entirely 
satisfied with its church building. But the growth of business all about it, driving the 
worshippers to the South and West Ends, made Trinity inaccessible to very many 
of the old congregation. Just as the church was beginning to languish from this 
cause, the Rev. Phillips Brooks became its rector, and the condition of affairs was 
quickly changed. Previously members of the congregation who found themselves 
inconvenienced by the distance to church quietly dropped away and went somewhere 
else. This was not now to be thought of. The pews were all taken and all filled, 
and there arose a clamor for a removal to a more eligible situation. All the prelim- 
inary steps had been taken, and, had the fire not occurred, the building whose ruins 
may be seen in our sketch would have been occupied only until a new church could 
be erected on the new lands below the Public Garden. 

Tremont Temple is one of the - ^-^-^ 

best kno^\^l halls in the city for "%^^^ -^^^^=~- 

public assemblies of all kinds. 
It stands on Tremont Street, 
directly opposite the Tremont 
House, on the site of the old 
Tremont Theatre. It covers more 
than 1 2, 000 square feet of ground. 
The front of Tremont Temple is 
covered with mastic, and is sev- 
enty-five feet high. Within is 
the great audience-room, one 
hundred and twenty-four feet 
long, seventy-two feet wide, and 
fifty feet hi^h, with its deep, 
encircling galleries. It was in 
this hall that Mr. Charles Dick- 
ens gave his readings in Boston 
on his last visit to America, and 
it was selected on account of its 
great capacity and admirable 
acoustic properties. The hall is 
very plain indeed. Even the 
organ, which often adds so much tremont temple 

to the appearance of halls and churches, is merely hidden behind a screen, and is 
without a case. The Temple is occupied on Sundays by the Tremont Street Bap- 
tist Church for its services. The Young Men's Christian Association has its quarters 




72 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



in this building, and there is, beneath the Temple proper, a smaller temple, — the 
Meionaou. From the cupola of the building, which is, however, not very accessible, 
a fine view of Boston and the surrounding country is to be had. 

Standing on Tremont Street, at the head of Hamilton Place, and looking down 
the place, one may see a plain and lofty brick wall without ornament or architec- 
tural pretensions of any sort. The building is the Boston ]\lusic Hall, one of the 
noblest public halls in the world, and the pride of every music-lover of Boston. 
This hall was built by private enterprise, and first opened to the j)ublic in 1852, It 

^ has ever since been 

the head-quarters 
of musical enter- 
tainmeut in the 
city. It would re- 
quire more space 
than can be devot- 
ed to the subject 
to give even a list 
of the great singers 
whose voices have 
been heard within 
its walls, of the fa- 
mous lecturers who 
have expounded 
their views here, 
and of the numer- 
ous fairs for chaii- 
table purposes that 
have been held in 
it. But it is safe 
to say that in no 
other single hall in 
the country have 
so many and so 
choice progiammes 

of music been performed, and that no other hall has furnished a platform for so many 
distinguished orators during the past twenty years. The acoustic properties of the 
hall are perfect. Indeed, it is, as Dr. Holmes has well said, " a kind of jmssive nuisical 
instrument, or at least a sounding-board constructed on theoretical principles." It is 
one hundred and thirty feet in length, seventy-eight in breadth, and sixty-five in 
height. The height is half of the length, and the breadtli is six-tenths of the length, 
the unit being thirteen feet. No one who has been inside the hall needs to be told of its 
architectural beauty, its spaciousness, its entire suitability to the purpose for which it 
was designed. The brilliant light shed down from the hundreds of gas-jets encircling 
the wall far above the upper balcony is something to be remembered. The fine statue 
of Apollo, the admirable casts presented by Miss Cliarlotte Cushman and placed in the 
walls, and above all the magnificent statue of Beethoven, by Crawford, standing in 




THE ORGAN IN MUSIC HALL. 



BOSTON ILL USTRA TED. 



73 



front of tlie organ, deserve the attention of every visitor to the hall. But all these 
•works of art are speedily forgotten in the presence of the glorious instrument that is 
the chief ornament and attraction of the Music Hall. The organ was contracted for 
in 1856, with Herr E. Fr. Walcker of Ludwigsburg, Wurtemberg, and was set up and 
formally inaugurated on the 2d of November, 1863, in the presence of an immense 
and delighted audience. Hundreds of thousands of people have since listened to its 
grand and beautiful tones. The organ contains iive thousand four hundred and 
seventy-four pipes, of which no less than six hundred and ninety are in the jiedal 
organ ; and it has eighty-four complete registers. Its architecture is exceedingly 
rich and appropriate, and a close inspection is necessary to reveal the beauties of 
which only the general effect can be here reproduced. Only those who have been 
inside the great instrument know how complete and thorough was the work. Even 
the brass pipes that imitate the trumpet are shaj)ed like the orchestral trumpet, and 
are of polished brass ; and the series of flutes are of choice wood, turned and var- 
nished, fashioned like actual flutes, and fitted with embouchures of brass. It is in 
all its parts the most perfect, as it is on the whole the largest, organ in the country. 
The whole cost of the organ and its case was upwards of ^ 60,000, 

The Boston Museum, near the head of Tremont Street, is one of the oldest of the 
places of amusement in Boston. In 1841, Mr. Moses Kimball and associates opened 
the " Boston Muse- 
um and Gallery of 
Fine Arts," in a 
building erected for 
the purpose at the 
corner of Tremont 
and Bromfield Sts. 
In connection with 
the museum, it had 
a fine music-hall, 
capable of seating 
twelve hundred peo- 
ple, where the dra- 
ma very soon found 
a home. The suc- 
cess of the venture 
was so great that 
the present build- 
ing was erected in 
1846, and the first 
entertainment was 
given in it on the 
2d of November in 
that year. The mu- 
seum proper is very large and interesting. It occupies numerous alcoves in the large 
hall on Tremont Street, the hall being furnished with several capacious galleries, 
which are all filled with curiosities and works of art. The theatre is large and well 




BOSTON MUSEUM. 



74 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



ventilated, comfortably furnished and finely decorated. It is managed witli liberal 
shrewdness. The *' star " system is wholly discarded, and the dramas are represented 
by an excellent stock company. The veteran William Warren, who became con- 
nected with this theatre the second season, and has been a member of the company 
every year but one since, is a host in himself. Several other actors and actresses 
have been at the Museum so long that they would hardly be at home on any other 
stage. This theatre is a very great favorite with all classes of patrons of the drama. 
It used to be called the "Orthodox theatre" on account of the distinction made 
by some good people who objected to dramatic entertainment in general, but saw 
no harm in attending the representation of plays at tlie I\Iuseum. The Museum is 
now under the administration of Mr. R. M. Field, who has occupied the position 
of manager for nearly ten years. 

The Boston Theatre is situated on the west side of Washington Street, between 
Avery and West Streets. It is the largest regular place of amusement in New Eng- 
land, and is in 
many respects one 
of the finest. The 
opportunity for 
architectural dis- 
play was most lim- 
ited, and no hint 
whatever is given 
of the lofty and 
spacious auditori- 
um by the external 
appearance of the 
entrance. This 
theatre is owned 
by a stock compa- 
ny, but is managed 
by private enter- 
prise. Itwas erect- 
ed in 1854, and was 
I opened on the 11th 
of September of 
that year, under 
the management of 
]\Ir. Thomas Bar- 
ry. There is a 
stock company 

connected with this theatre, but there is almost always a "star " performer to attract 
the multitude, — and a very large multitude can be accommodated within it. 
This is the house usually engaged for the representation of Italian, German, and 
English Opera. Most of the great American actors, and many distinguished 
foreign actors and actresses, have appeared upon this stage. Jeff"erson and Owens, 
Booth and Forrest, Fechter and Sothern, Ristori and Janauschek, and a host of 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



70 



others whose names are famous in the annals of the stage, have here delighted the 
Boston public within the last five years alone ; while of opera-singers may be men- 
tioned Nilsson, and Parepa Rosa, and Kellogg, and Phillipps. The Boston Theatre 
is now under the management of Mr, J. B. Booth. 

The Globe Theatre is the newest and one of the most attractive of the theatres of 
Boston. It was built in 1867 by Messrs. Arthur Cheney and Dexter H. Follett, and 
opened in October of that year as Selwyn's Theatre, Mr. John H. Selwyn being 

the manager. After . 

three years of suc- 
cessful management 
Mr. Selwjn retired, 
and was succeeded 
by Mr. Charles Feeb- 
ler, who had, a fe^^ 
months before, car- 
ried Boston bystoim 
by his acting at the 
Boston Theatre. Mi 
Fechter's manageii- 
al experience in Bos- 
ton was brief, and 
he, in turn, gave way 
to Mr. W. R. Floyd, 
who is now the man- 
ager. Mr. Chene} 
meanwhile had be- 
come the sole ownei 
of the theatre. The 
name of the house 
was changed to the 
Globe on the retiie- 
ment of ^Mr. Selwyn 
The decoration of 
the auditorium is le- 
markablv tasteful ^"^ globe theatre before the fire of may 30, 1873. 

and brilliant. Although very rich colors are employed, the harmony and comple- 
mentary appropriateness of each to the other are so perfect that there is no approach 
to gaudiness. The stage appointments have always been unexceptionable under the 
several managements ; so that while one is listening to the words of the play, the eye, 
as well as the ear, is gratified. Mr. Charles Mathews, Mr. John E. Owens, Miss Char- 
lotte Cushman, and Miss Carlotta LeClercq may be mentioned among others who 
have played star engagements during the last two years. * 

Freemasonry has long been in a very flourishing condition in Boston, and, indeed, 

* Wliile these sheets are passing through the press (May 30), a disastrous fire, originating in Haley, 
Morse, & Co.'s furniture-rooms, communicated to, and completely destroyed, the Globe Theatre and 
adjacent buildings, stopping just short of Miller's piano-forte factory. 




76 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




MASONIC TEMPLE. 



in Massachusetts. After the po- 
litical excitement against the 
order, thirty or forty years ago, 
had died out, there Avas a re- 
action in its favor, and since that 
time it has had hardly a check 
to its progi-ess. The fine building 
now used for the United States 
courts was used as the head-quar- 
ters of the order until the limits 
were outgrown. Subsequently the 
several organizations, or a large 
number of them, were gathered in 
the building adjoining the Win- 
throp House, at the corner of Tre- 
mont and Boylston Streets. Both 
the hotel and the halls were de- 
stroyed by fire on tlie night of 
April 7, 1864. It was then deter- 
mined to build a temple worthy 
of the order on the same site. 
The corner-stone was laid with im- 
posing ceremonies on the 1 4th of 
October of the same year, and the temple, having been wholly completed, was dedicated 

on the Freemasons' anniversary, 
^ St. John's Day, June 22, 1867. 

On the latter occasion President 
Johnson was present, having 
accepted an invitation to par- 
ticipate in the ceremonies, 
which drew together delega- 
tions of brethren of the order 
I from all parts of Massachusetts 
and New England. The build- 
ing is of very fine granite, and 
has a front of eighty-five fecit 
on Tremont Street. Its height 
is ninety feet, though one of 
the octagonal towers rises to 
the height of one hundred and 
twenty-one feet. It has seven 
stories above the basement, of 
which only the street floor is 
occupied for other than mason- 
ic purposes. There are three 
large halls for meetings on the 
second, fourth, and sixth floors, 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



77 



finished respectively in the Corinthian, Egyptian, and Gothic styles. On the in- 
termediate floors are anterooms, smaU halls, and offices ; while m the seventh story 
are three large banqneting-haUs. Both in its external appearance and m its internal 
arrangements this temple is a credit to the order and an ornament to the city. 

AVithui the limits of the district we have described are, as we have said, most of 
the daily newspapers and most of the weeklies. The Boston Post occupies at present 
the greater part of the buHding at the comer of Water and Devonshire streets, oppo- 
site the new Post-Office. The first number of the Post was issued on the 9th of No- 
vember, 1831, by Charles G. Greene. In that first number the editor promised to 
exclude from its columns everything of a vindictive or bitter character," and although 
he announced his intention to discuss public questions freely and fearlessly, he agreed 
to do so "in a manner that, if it failed to convince, should not off-end. The prom- 
ise has been faithfully kept. The Post has frequently maintained the unpopular side 
in political controversies, but it has always done so in such a manner as to make 
almost as manv friends among tho.e it opposed as among persons of its own political 
faith. It has also al^^a3s maintiincd a leputation foi Inelmess and cheeiful humor 
that has been well 
deserved. The Post 
was first published 
in its present com- 
modious quarters 
on the morning of 
March 29, 1869. 
The projected street 
improvements have, 
however, doomed 
the site of the build- 
ing to such extensive 
curtailment that it 
will be no longer 
available for its pres- 
ent use. The pro- 
prietors of the Post 
have therefore pur- 
chased the lot on 
Milk Street adjoin- 
ing the new Tran- 
script office, already 
noticed as the spot 
where Franklin was 
born, and will erect 
another office, in 
which they hope to 
remainundisturbed. view in Washington street globe ofkk:e 

The onlv other strictly morning paper to be noticed is the Globe, the first number of 
which was issued from its present office March 4, 1872. It is printed in quarto form, 




78 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED, 



and is always exceedingly creditable typograpliically. The Globe is professedly in- 
dependent in politics, tboiigh it gave the Republican candidates in the last campaign 
a support hardly differing from partisanship. It is already favorably known by the 
excellence of its literary criticism,, and its business success is most encouraging. 

The Transcript was the pioneer of the evening press in Boston, and is, next to the 
Advertiser, the oldest daily newspaper in the city. It was first published in July, 

1830, and the senior 
partner of the orig- 
inal linn is still the 
head of the house. 
The experunent was 
for some timp one 
of doubtful success, 
but now no paper 
in Boston is more 
firmly established. 
During the entire 
period of its publi- 
cation it has had but 
four editors-in-chief, 
of whom the present 
editor is now in the 
twenty-first year of 
his service. The 
Transcript has al- 
ways been a pleas- 
ant, chatty, tea- 
table paper, full of 
fresh news, literary 
gossip, and choice 
extracts from what- 
ever in any branch 
J of literature is new 

WASHINGTON STREET : TRANSCRIPT OFFICE BEFORE THE FIRE. aud entertaining. 

A year ago it was supposed to be permanently established in a fine four-story granite 
structure, with a double mansard roof. It was, however, very unfortunate in the fire. 
The basement was supposed to be fire-proof, and when the flames ap])roached the build- 
ing, all the material of the office was removed to this basement, which was then se- 
curely closed. But an attempt was made to stop the flames at the corner of Milk Street 
by blowing up the low building at the left of the Transcript office. The powder did 
not prove of much use in stopping the fire, but it did burst in the basement-wall of 
the Transcript building, and irretrievably ruin the valuable presses and material stored 
there. After this mishap the Transcript was domiciled for a few months with the 
Globe, and is now located in an office on Court Avenue. The widening of Washing- 
ton Street compelled the proprietors to extend their estate by purchasing the corner- 
lot adjoining, which is shown in our sketch, and on this conspicuous site they will 
immediately erect a fine new office. 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



79 



The Evening Traveller occupies a building at the comer of State and Congress 
Streets, — quarters in which it has been established since 1854. The Daily Traveller 
was first issued on the 1st of April, 1845, as a two-cent evening paper, — the first in 
Boston to adopt a price so low. The weekly American Traveller had then been 
issued more than twenty years, having been first published in January, 1825. In its 
day the American Traveller w^as the great paper for stage-coaches and steamboats. 
When the daily was founded, it adopted a course quite different from that of any 
other paper in Boston. It aimed to be a moral and religious organ as well as a 
medium of news. The old traditions are still retained to some extent in the Travel- 
ler, but it long ago adopted the purveyance of news as its leading object. In this 
particular its reputation is firmly established, the new^s department, under a liberal 
management, being always fresh and well arranged. The arrangement of the Travel- 
ler office is similar to that of the other offices that have been mentioned, with one 
or two exceptions. The great value of space in State Street has led the Traveller to 
share its counting- 
room with others. 
One corner of the 
room is occupied by 
a telegraph - office, 
and in the two cor- 
ners on State Street 
are located, in rath- 
er narrow quarters, 
two brokerage-hous- 
es ; and above, on 
the third and fourth 
floors are to be found 
the composition and 
editorial rooms. A 
view of the Travel- 
ler building is given 
in the illustration 
of State Street. 

The Boston Jour- 
nal is both a morn- 
ing and an evening 
paper. The second 
and third pages al 
ways contain the la 
test news, in Avhat 
ever edition it is 
sought. The Jour- 
nal long ago ob- 
tained an excellent 

reputation as a general newspaper, both for the counting-room and the family circle. 
It has a very large sale throughout Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire, 




VIEW IN WASHINGTON STREET, 



80 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



and in consequence of the peculiar character of its constituency has always been 
especially strong in its New England intelligence. The Journal was founded in 1833, 
appearing for the first time on February 5 of that year as the Evening Mercantile 
Journal. On beginning the publication of a morning edition, it took its present 
name. The Journal was the first newspaper in Boston to procure a Hoe press. It 
now uses two, — one of six cylinders, and the other of eight. The present building 
was occupied in September, 1860. Its arrangement is siniilar to that of other 
papers already described. 

The Boston Herald is also a morning and evening paper, and enjoys a very great 

popularity. It was first issued in 1846 as a one-cent paper, and this price it main- 

^ __ ^ ^ tained until the general rise of prices 

-_^_^7": - _ during the war. The Herald circulates 

a very large number of copies, its daily 
issue being exceeded by only one or two 
newspapers in the country. It is the 
only one of the Boston papers that has 
yet adopted the practice of stereotyping 
its "forms," and this course it was com- 
pelled to adopt by the imi)ossibility of 
printing the requisite number of copies 
in the time at its disposal. The Herald 
is also the only daily of those already 
named that publishes a Sunday issue. 

In addition to the newspapers men- 
tioned there are two other dailies, — 
the Times, an evening paper, and the 
News, published morning and evening, 
and sold for two cents each ; the Times, 
like the Herald, publishing a Sunday 
issue. There are also many other week- 
ly newspapers, weekly, political, relig- 
ious, agricultural, pictorial, and literary, 
many of them with very large circula- 
tion, and conducted with marked abil- 
ity. There are no less than five Sun- 
day papers, a number that is hardly 
exceeded by any city in the country. 
And there is probably no other busi- 
ness that has experienced a more uninterrupted prosperity for the past ten years, or 
that has resulted in more satisfactory returns to the pockets of the investors, than 
the business of newspaper publishing in Boston. 

The fine hall of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association stands upon 
the northwest corner of Bedford and Chauncy Streets. This association, of which 
Paul Revere was the first president, had been agitating the question of erecting a 
hall for more than half a century before the steps were finally taken that resulted 
in the building of this structure. The land Avas bought in December, 1856, for 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



81 



$31,000. It fronts 
ninety-three feet on 
Cliauncy Street, and 
sixty-five feet on 
Bedford Street. The 
building was imme- 
diately begun upon 
a plan designed by 
Hammatt Billings, 
and it was comi)leted 
and dedicated in 
March, 1860, at a 
cost, including land, 
of about $320,000. 
It is constructed of 
dark freestone in a 
modification of the 
Italian Renaissance 
style of architecture. 
During the erection 
of the City Hall the 
building was occu- 
pied by the offices 
of the city gov- 
ernment. The 
large hall and 
the accompany- 
ing rooms on 
the second floor 
are now used by 
the Boston 
Board of Trade 
and the Na- 
tional Board of 
Trade. 

A fine piece of 
architecture is 
the Horticul- 
tural Hall, on 
Tremont Street, 
between Brom- 
field Street and 
Montgomery 
Place. It was 
erected by the 
Massachusetts 




mechanics' building. 




HORTICULTURAL HALL AND STUDIO BUILDING. 



82 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



Horticultural Society, and is one of the most perfectly classical buildings in the 
city. It is built of fine-grained white granite, beautifully dressed, and the exte- 
rior is massive and elegant in proportion. The front is surmounted by a granite 
statue of Ceres. The lower floor is occupied for business purposes, and above are 
two halls, not very large, yet adapted not only to their original purpose, for the 
meetings and exhibitions of the society, but for parlor concerts, lectures, social 
gatherings, and fairs. The series of Sunday afternoon lectures delivered in this 
building during each winter for several years past have made Horticultural Hall 
almost as well known in this country as Exeter Hall is in England, On the oppo- 
site corner of Bromfield Street stands the Studio Building. This structure is occu- 
pied on the street floor by six large stores, while above is a perfect hive of artists. 
This building, indeed, is the head- (Quarters of the artists of Boston, though many of 
them are located elsewhere. There are delightful artists' receptions here, to which 
the general public is invited. Besides the devotees of art, there are many private 
teachers of music and the languages in the Studio Building, and not a few of the 
rooms are occupied as bachelors' apartments. 

The building occupied by the Mason & Hamlin Cabinet Organ Company for their 
warerooms on Tremont Street is a marble structure of great architectural beauty, 

which has added not a little to the 

— attractiveness of Tremont Street, and 

-^ has aided in drawing business down 

that avenue below Temple Place. It 
was begun in the spring of 1866, and 
was completed in the following 
spring, at a cost of about $175,000. 
The Mason and Hamlin Company is 
more extensively engaged in manufac- 
turing reed musical instruments than 
any other establishment in the world. 
It has turned out upwards of sixty 
thousand instruments in the eighteen 
years since the business was begun, 
and the business has increased three- 
fold in the last seven years. The 
company is now exporting many in- 
struments of its manufacture to Eu- 
rope. It has two extensive manufacto- 
ries, one on Cambridge Street, Bos- 
ton, and the other in Cambridge. 

At the corner of Washington Street 
and Central Court is the elegant build- 
ing occupied by Jordan, Marsh, & Co. 
VIEW IN TREMONT STREET. 9,8 a retail dry-goods store. It has 

a fine front of dark freestone, eighty feet long on Washington Street and five 
stories high. The street floor and basement only were at first occupied by the firm. 
The second floor was used as a warerooni by Chickering & Sons, the rear being 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



83 



finished off into a beautiful hall, while the upper floors were let to lodgers. 
The whole building is now occupied by the firm, and the wholesale depart- 
ment has been removed from Devonshire Street to a new building in the rear. 
The two structures cover a surface of from 20,000 to 23,000 square feet, and are 
connected by an excavated passage-way. Each building is furnished with a pas- 
senger and a freight elevator, all of them operated by a stationary engine in 
the passage-way between the two buildings. This collection of bniklings was in 
gi-eat danger 
several times 
during the great 
tire, but fortu- 
nately no dam- 
age was done 
them. 

The Old Cor- 
ner Bookstore, 
now occupied 
by Messrs. A. 
Williams & Co., 
is one of the 
very oldest 
buildings now 
standing in the 
city. The exact 
date of its erec- 
tion is not 
known, but the 
building which 
preceded it on 
the same site 
was destroyed 
by the great 
fire of October, 
1711, and in a 
short time, 
probably within 
a year, the Old 
Corner Store 

was erected. jordan, marsh, and co.'s building. 

The history of this store has been very carefully and completely traced from its first 
occupation as an apothecary's shop, by the builder, Mr. Thomas Crease, to its reversion 
to the original use in 1817. In 1828 Messrs. Carter and Hendee took it for a book- 
store, and to that use it has ever since been devoted. Four years after the date just 
mentioned, Messrs. Allen and Ticknor, the lineal ancestors of the present house of 
James R. Osgood & Co., took this position, and retained it under the successive man- 
agement of William D. Ticknor, Ticknor, Eeed, ^^ Fields, and Ticknor & Fields, until 




84 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




OT.D CORNER BOOKSTOKH. 




1865, when the last- 
named firm removed 
to the quarters on 
Tremont Street now 
occupied by their 
successors. The Old 
Corner Store com- 
bines excellence of 
situation with a sort 
(if rambling pictu- 
resqiieness that has 
made it a great fa- 
vorite with lovers of 
books. It stands in 
very nearly its origi- 
inal form, and is one 
of the best and most 
substantial examples 
of a style of archi- 
tecture that has gone 
wholly out of vogue. 

The present quarters of 
the publishing-house of 
James R. Osgood & Co., 
successors to Ticknor & 
Fields and Fields, Osgood, 
& Co., arc in the first of a 
row of buihlings that reach 
from Hamilton Place to 
Winter Street, on Tremont 
Street. A generation ago 
tliese fine granite-front 
structures were among the 
most elegant private man- 
sions in the city. One by 
one they have all been given 
up to business. Their size 
and arrangement adapted 
them admirably for trans- 
formation into stores, and 
for several years the pub- 
lishers found the corner 
store quite adequate to their 
wants. But they have now 
decided to remove once 
more, this time into the 



BOSTON ILL USTIIA TED. 



85 



very heart of the wholesale trade. Our frontispiece gives a view of the building that 
is to occupy the corner of Franklin and Federal Streets, and to be occupied by Messrs. 
Eand, Avery, & Co. and James R. Osgood k Co. as soon as completed. The printers 
and publishers will thus be brought into closer relations. This house issues five period- 
icals, — the North American Review, the Atlantic Monthly, Our Young Folks, Every 
Saturday, and the Practical Magazine. It retains all the important literary relations 
and the valuable copyrights which have been acquired during forty years under 
its various names. Among its authors are Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, Haw- 
thorne, Lowell, Holmes, Mrs. Stowe, Tennyson, Dickens, Thackeray, and many 
others of the first authors of America and England. 

The magnificent marble structure which formerly stood on Washington Street, and 
was occupied by Macullar, Williams, & Parker for their great wholesale and retail 
clothing manufactory and salesroom was built by the trustees of the Sears estate. 
Its fine marble front was very 
striking, and its internal arrange- 
ments were as perfect as its archi- 
tectuVe. At the time of its erec- 
tion it was the largest building in 
the world wholly devoted to the 
business of clothing manufacture. 
It fronted forty feet on Washington 
Street, and extended back to Haw- 
ley Street two hundred and fifty feet. 
This building was destroyed in the 
fire of November, but its front was 
left standing, — to be pulled down 
by order of the City Council. 

The Sears Building, on the corner 
of Court and Washington Streets, 
is one of the finest, as it was also 
for its size one of the costliest. 
The land was bought and the work 
of tearing down the old buildings 
was begun in June, 1868. The 
foundation was laid in July, and 
within a year the new building was 
occupied. It has a front of fifty- 
five feet on Washington Street, 
and of one hundred and forty-nine 
feet on Court Street. It is built 
in the Italian-Gothic style of archi- macullar, williams, and parker's building. 
tecture, the external walls being constructed of gray and white marble, the contrast 
of which is highly pleasing. The price paid for the land on which this building stands 
was $356,000, which was at the rate of about forty-three dollars a square foot, and 
the building itself brought the entire cost of the property up to about three quarters 
of a million dollars. It is furnished within in a style of great elegance, and is occu- 




86 



BOSTON ILL US TEA TED. 



pied by two banks, several insurance companies, a score or more of railroad compa- 
nies, engineers, treasurers of companies, etc. A steam elevator of the best pattern 
conveys passengers from the street-floor to the highest story. This elegant structure 
appears on the right of our large view on page 50. 

The crookedness of "Washington Street is not in all respects a disadvantage. It 
permits many fine buildings to be seen to better advantage than they would be if the 

street had been laid out in a straight 
line. In passing along the street, one 
of the most prominent buildings, and 
one of the most recent additions to 
the fine architecture of the street, is 
the banking-house of the Mercantile 
Savings Institution. This is, how- 
ever, an old building •\nth a new front, 
and otherwise reconstructed. The 
new front is of veined marble, rest- 
ing on three columns of highly pol- 
ished red Quincy granite. The elegant 
steps which give access to the basement 
and the first story are of pure white 
marble. "Within, the apartment of the 
bank, which occupies the whole of the 
first story, is finished in black Avalnut, 
the walls are tastefully frescoed, and 
the floors and counters are of marble. 

Artemus Ward, in a saying which has 
become proverbial, located Harvard 
College in the billiard-room of Par- 
ker's, on School Street. But it is 
not with the Harvard students alone 
that the Parker House is a favorite. 
Charles Dickens, who had, of course, a 
predilection for a hotel on the Euro- 
pean plan, gave it the name of being 
the best house at which he had been 
a guest in America. The proprietors 
of the Parker House began in a small 
way in another building, and gained 
a reputation for providing the best 
that the market aflbrded, which they 
have never suffered themselves to lose. 
Their present quarters are elegant ex- 
ternally, and sumptuously furnished 
within. The house is patronized very 
extensively by persons travelling for pleasure, and is a universal favorite with visitors 
as well as citizens. Its prosperity is so great that the proprietors have found it 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



87 



necessary to make an addition of two stones to their present building, and to pur- 
chase an estate on Tremont Street, which has given the hotel a much-needed entrance 
from that thronged avenue. This new addition consists of a six-story marble build- 
ing of fine architectural appearance. 

"We end this chapter as we began it, with a view in State Street. This time 
our sketch shows the magnificent row of warehouses at the lower end of State 
Street, known as State Street Block, which contains some of the most substan- 
tially built and commodious stores in Boston. The former proprietors having 
filled in the dock between Long and Central Wharves, and having driven about 
eight thousand piles, began to lay the foundations of this structure in December, 
1856. The lots were 
sold by auction in 
June, 1857, one of 
the terms of the sale 
being that the pur- 
chaser should erect 
upon the lot bought 
a building in accord- 
ance with a specified 
plan, so as to make 
the entire block 
uniform. The lots 
brought prices ran- 
ging from $18.75 
down to$5.37|- per 
superficial foot. The 
building, or rather 
the collection of 
buildings, erected, 
covers an area 425 
feet long on State 
and Central Streets, 
and is of a uniform 
depth of 125 feet. 

The walls are laid in rough granite ashlar. The stores have each five stories and 
a double attic above the street, and the height of the buildings from the street to 
the cro-svn of the roof is about 92 feet. The general appearance of this block 
of fifteen stores is of extreme solidity and of complete adaptation to the purpose 
for which they were designed. The excellence of construction was proved by fire 
but a week after the great conflagration of November, 1872, when one of these 
stores, filled with exceedingly combustible material, was wholly destroyed without 
doing injury to the stores on either side. 

Many other wharves in Boston besides Long "Wharf are covered with solid and 
eapacious warehouses, though this State Street Block is the largest and most ele- 
gant of all. The visitor in the city will find agreeable occupation for many a 
leisure hour in wandering about the wharves, where there is, under the revival of 




THE PARKER HOUSE. 



88 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



commerce in Boston, a perpetual scene of activity. The most important wharves in 
Boston proper are those in the immediate vicinity of State Street, — especially Cen- 
tral, India, and T Wharves, where most of the large steamers in the coasting trade 
arrive, and whence they depart. Atlantic Avenue, which is rapidly becoming an 
important channel of communication between the several wharves, passes directly 
across the foreground of our view of State Street Block. 

The retail trade 
of the Central Dis- 
trict of Boston is 
chiefly transacted in 
that section bounded 
on the east by Wash- 
ington Street, the 
greater part of the 
territory between 
Washington Street 
and the Avharves be- 
ing given up to 
wholesale biisiness. 
The ladies' quarter 
has its centre at the 
corner of Washing- 
ton and Winter Sts. 
On any pleasant day 
the sidewalks and 
stores in the imme- 
diate vicinity of 
that corner are 
crowded with ladies 
engaged in the de- 
lightful occupation of " shopping," and the streets are lined with their carriages. 
The railroads have made it possible for the inhabitants of the cities and towns 
of half Massachusetts to make their ordinary purchases in Boston, and the large 
proportion of ladies carrying little travelling-bags is an indication of the extent to 
which advantage is taken of the possibility. 




STATE STREET BLOCK. 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



89 



V. THE SOUTH END. 




HE South End of Boston, as tlie term is now understood, is a district of 

residences. It is true tliat Washington Street, throughout its whole 

length, is given up almost entirely to retail trade, and that a considerable 

^ amount of business is done on other streets. There are too, here and 

there, large manufactories that are not to be overlooked. But, generally speaking, 

Boylston Street divides the business of the city on the north from the residences on 

the south. It is mipossible to predict how long this state of things will continue. 

Boston business is rapidly expanding, and the room to do it in must expand likewise. 

The current is setting decidedly to the south, and year by year new advances are 

made in that direction, by both wholesale and retail trade. It is the firm belief 

of many that Cohimbus Avenue will ultimately become a great retail business 

.street, but that is looking far into the future. Yet it can have escaped no one's 

observation, that the district between Boylston Street and the Albany Railroad is in 

the state of transition that invariably precedes the full occupation of a position by 

trade. But we must 

speak of the existing 

lines of division ; and 

for our purposes \><i 

regard as the South 

End, given up to re-)- 

idences, all the ter- 
ritory bounded on 

the north and west 

by Essex, Boylston, 

andTremont Streets, 

and the Boston and 

Albany Railroad, 

and south by the 

old Roxbury line. 
The face of the 

country in this part 

of the city is for the 

most part level ; and 

indeed a very large 

part of the territory 

was reclaimed from 

the sea. A great 

, (-.IT, VIEW IN CHESTER SQUARE. 

number oi the horse- 
ears run to the "Neck," but the South End is no longer a neck of land. There 
are many among us who remember when Tremont Street was but a shell road 




90 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



91 



across flats. ITow it is a spacious avenue lined with imposing structures, as may 
be seen in our large view. Only a few public spaces were reserved in this part of the 
city. Franklin and Blackstone Squares are merely open spaces, — of gi'eat value, to be 
sure, for breathing purposes, but incapable, both from their small size and from their 
flatness, of being made very beautiful. Union Park, Worcester Square, and Chester 
Square have been made desirable for residence and for public resort by simple and 
inexpensive means. The last-named has long been a favorite street for dwelling- 
houses, many of which are very elegant and costly. Through the avenue runs a 
park, narrow at the ends, but swelling out in the centre, in which are trees and 
flowers, with a fountain and a fish-pond, making the park a deliciously cool and 
pleasant spot in midsummer. JSIost of the streets, other than those we have 
named, though generally pleasant, are somewhat monotonous in their appearance. 
One street, which is not an exception to the rule of monotony, but which is never- 
theless a favorite place for residences, is Columbus Avenue. This is one of the 
longest straight streets in the city. It is laid out in a direct line from West Chester 
Park to Park Square, but has thus far only been completed to Berkeley Street. It 
has been paved for the greater part of its length with wood, and this partially 
explains its popularity, for it is chosen, on account of its even pavement, as a 
drivewaj', by great numbers of public and private carriages, making it always a 
lively street, though never a noisy one. Columbus Avenue ends in a pleasant little 
square at its junction M-ith AVest Chester Park, and when it shall have been wholly 
built up, this will be one of the most delightful spots at the South End. 

There are but few public buildings in this section of the city, and we begin by 




GIRLS HIGH AND NORMAL bCHOOL. 



92 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



giving a view of one that should be characteristic of the district, as well as illus- 
trative of the admirable school buildings for which Boston is celebrated, the last and 
best school-house provided by the city for the education of youth. The Girls' Higlj 
and Normal School is built upon a lot fronting 200 feet on West Newton and 
Pembroke Streets, and 154 feet in depth. The building itself has a front on each 
street of 144 feet, and a depth of 131 feet. The school has a capacity equal to the 
accommodation of 1225 j^^ipils. The total cost of the land and the building was 
$310,717, of which about $60,000 was paid for the land, and $16,000 for the fur- 
nishing. It Avould be impossible within our limits to give even a brief description of 
this perfect school-house. It has an abundance of rooms for every department of 
the school, for museums, and collections of all kinds of articles necessary to the in- 
struction here given. There are no less than sixty-six separate apartments, exclusive 
of halls, passages, and corridors. They are all well lighted and cheerful. The 
entire building is supplied with hot air, radiated from apparatus located in the 
cellar, and is ventilated in the most thorough manner. The large hall in the upper 
story has received, through the generosity of a number of ladies and gentlemen, a 
large collection of casts of sculpture and statuary. Every room is placed in direct 
communication with the master's room by means of electric bells and speaking- 
tubes. On the roof is an octagonal structure, which is designed to be used as an 
astronomical observatory. In every respect this school-house is suited to the purpose 
for which it was designed, and is a credit to the city. 

Within a few years 
the French "flat'' 
system of dwellings 
has been very exten- 
sively adopted in 
Boston. There are 
now as many as 
twenty great "ho- 
tels," as they are 
called, divided into 
suites of apartments 
where families may 
lodge and "keep 
house" all on one 
floor. These suites 
are of various sizes, 
and are variously ar- 
ranged, but the prin- 
ciple is the same. 
There are, too, very 
many houses former- 
ly used as single re- 
sidences, that are 

WASHINGTON STREET, WITH CONTINENTAL HOTEL. nOW let OUt tO ten- 

ants, wlio take all the rooms on one floor; and again there are "family" liotels, 




BOSTOX JLLUHTJiATED. 



93 




11! 




HOTEL BOVLSTON. 



where the apartments are arranged for the most part in suites, but where there 
are no kitchens, thus obliging the guests to take their meals at a restaurant, or at 
a table d'hote. But ^_=_^^ _ __= _ -^ 

we have now to do _ ^ " =-^^ ^ '^'^"^ 21 _ 

with the French —-=-=- --—=^== ^- 

system, pure and 
simple, which is il- 
lustrated in the im- 
mensely long and 
commodious Conti- 
nental Hotel, in the 
Hotel Berkeley, and 
the Hotel Boylston. 
In structures of this 
class, a family rents 
a suite of rooms all 
upon one floor. 
Each suite has its 
own front door, — 
opening into a gen- 
eral hall, to be sure, 

-—with an entry hall, parlor, dining and sleeping rooms, kitchen, etc. It is a house in 
itself. The tenant is generally relieved of the necessity of buying fuel, the heat being 
supplied by steam from the basement. Except that he uses the same street-door, 
the same staircases, and the same hall with his fellow-tenants, he is as isolated from 
the rest of the Avorld as lie Avould be in a house of his own. The Hotel Pelham, 
on the corner of Boylston and Tremont Streets, was the first hotel of this kind 
erected in Boston, but of late the system has become exceedingly popular, and the 
demand so far exceeds the supply that proprietors are able to ask and to obtain 
large prices for rent. One of the most elegant of this class of dwelling-houses is 
the Hotel Boylston, opposite the Hotel Pelham and the Masonic Temple. It has 
been but recently erected by the Hon. Charles Francis Adams. Its architecture is 
remarkably pleasing and tasteful, and its location gives it a great advantage over 
some other fine buildings that must be examined, if at all, from the opposite side 
of a narroAV street. The interior has been arranged with great care to fit it for 
occupation by families, and its central location, added to its own excellence and 
elegance, have already made it a great favorite Avith those who are fortunate enough 
to have their domicile beneath its roof. 

Some also of the largest hotels of the old-fashioned sort in the city are within the 
South End district. "We give a sketch of one, — the St. James. It was built by Mr. 
M. M. Ballon, and opened in April, 1868. Standing as it does upon N'ewton Street, 
facing Franklin Square, the beauty of its proportions may be seen to the best ad- 
vantage. It is elegantly finished and furnished throughout, with all the appliances 
of a modern hotel, including a passenger elevator Avorked by steam. The great din- 
ing-hall is capable of seating two hundred and fifty people. Some of the rooms in 
this house are most sumptuously furnished. During the short time it has been open, 



94 



BOSTON ILL USTR A TED. 




ST. JAMES HOTEL 

Among a great number of churches in this part of the city, only a 
few can be mentioned. Most prominent ah-eady, though it is norj'et 
completed, is the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, on AVashington and 
Maiden Streets. Tlie corner-stone of this church was laid in the 
summer of 1867. An army of workmen has since been engaged upon 
it at all seasons when building was possible, but it is still far from 
completion. The great tower at the southwest corner will be 300 feet 
high, and so immensely high are the walls of the church, 
and so large is the surface of ground covered by it, that 
this height is only in strict proportion to the other dimen- 
sions of the structure. Already a small chapel — small, 
however, only in 
comparison with 

the rest of the . ^^. .^-^ X^^^=^ 

building — has ^ "^ ^ ^ ^ ~ 

been finished, and 
its gorgeousness of 
color and the ele- 
gance of the fit- 
tings and ornamen- 
tation exceed that 
of any other church 
in New England. 
It is promised that 
even this shall be 
surpassed by the 
decoration of the 
Cathedral itself. 
It is claimed that 

CATHEDRAL OF THE HOLY CROSS. 



it has had for guests 
several distinguished 
persons, chief among 
whom is President 
Grant. Another ho- 
tel, and a most ele- 
gant one, is the 
Commonwealth, on 
Washington Street, 
between Worcester 
and Springfield Sts. 
The material of the 
tronts on each of 
these streets is mar- 
ble, and the hotel is 
finely finished and 
furnished throughout. 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



95 



when the great auditorium shall have been finished, its numerous and wide en- 
trances will permit the exit of a full congi'egation more rapidly and easily than 
any other church in Boston. Probably something of the same spirit that led 
the Old South Society to insert over its church-door a tablet recording the fact 
that it was "desecrated by British soldiers" during the Revolution, and that 
led the people of the Brattle Square Church to build the cannon-ball from Bun- 
ker Hill into the wall of their edifice, has inspired the Roman Catholics to 
construct a part of the wall of this cathedral with brick from the ruins of the 
Ursuline Convent in Somerville. That convent was burned in 1834, and the 
ruin being at that time a more effective reminder of the popular hostility to 
the sect than a new convent would be^ it was never rebuilt. It is somewhat 
singular that the Catholics have suffered less in Boston from proscriptive laws 
and the activity of religionists opposed to them than the Baptists or the Episcopa- 
lians. In 1647 a law was passed prohibiting any ecclesiastic ordained by the 
authority of the Pope or See of Rome from coming into the colony, but there is 
no evidence that it was ever enforced, or that any one ever suffered in person or 
property in Massachusetts by the authority of the government exercised against 
the Roman Catholic faith. In 1788 a Catholic chapel was dedicated. It is prob- 
able that services had been held in Boston long before, but neither, then, nor 
before, nor since, so far as the records show, was any attempt made to suppress 
them. Contrasted with their lot, the imprisoned and banished Baptists, the pro- 
scribed Episcopalians, and the executed Quakers, had a hard time indeed. 

Not very far distant from the Cathedral, on Harrison Avenue, are the Church of 
the Immaculate Conception and Boston College (which is under the auspices of the 
Catholics), side by side. The church Avas begun in 1857, and dedicated in 1861- 




CKURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AND BOSTON COLLEGE. 

It is a solid structure of granite, without tower or spire. Above the entrance on 
Harrison Avenue is a statue of the Virgin Mary, with an inscription in Latin, 
while above all stands a statue of the Saviour, with outstretched arms. The 
interior of this church is very fine. It is finished mainly in white, except at the 



96 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



altar end, where the ornamentation is exceedingly rich and in very high colors. 
The organ is regarded as one of the most brilliant in the city. This church has 
always been noted for the excellence of its music. The college was incorporated in 
1863, and has been very successful. The number of students is smaller than in 
some of the other colleges in the State ; still, it is increasing, and the class of 
young men who here receive higher education is one not reached by the Protestant 
colleges. The cost of the church and the college buildings was about $350,000. 

Among the many Protestant churches in this district of the city, we Speak of but 
one, the Methodist Church, on Tremont Street, between Concord and Worcester. 

_i:.;i^ This has long been 

regarded as one of 
the finest church 
edifices in Boston, 
as it certainly is the 
finest belonging to 
the Metliodist de- 
nomination. It was 
one of the first, if 
not the very first, 
constructed of the 
Roxbury stone, 
which has now be- 
come so very popu- 
lar. The plan of the 
church, with its 
spires of unequal 
height at opposite 
corners, is unique, 
and the effect is ex- 
ceedingly pleasing. 
The society worship- 
ping here was for- 
merly known as the 
Hedding Church. 
Meetings were first 

held at the corner of Shawmut Avenue and Canton Street in 1848. A brick church 
was built the next year on South AVilliam Street, which was occupied until the 
present edifice was dedicated, on the 1st of January, 1862. The structure is in the 
plain Gothic style, and stands on a lot 202 feet long and 100 feet in depth. The 
entire cost of land, buildings, bell, and furniture, was only $68,000. The land 
alone is worth much more than that sum to-day, and the church could not be 
replaced, if it were destroyed, for the amount originally paid for the entire estate 
of the church. 

More than twenty years ago the expediency of establishing a City Hospital was 
mooted. The physicians of the city urged it very strongly, and the subject was 
much discussed in the City Council. But, like many other projects of the kind, this 




METHODIST CHURCH, TREMONT STREET. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



97 



one was put off from year to year, althoTigh the necessity for such an institution was 
all the time growing greater. At last in 1858 the Legislature gave the city the 
necessary authority, and in the last days of December, 1860, a lot of land on the 
South Bay territory, owned by the city, was appropriated for a City Hospital. The 
work was begun in the fall of 1861, the buildings were dedicated on the 24th of ]\ray, 
1864, and opened for the reception of patients the following month. The lot of 
land on which the Hospital stands contains nearly seven acres, occupying the entire 
square bounded by Concord, Albanj', and Springfield Streets, and Hamson Avenue. 
A large tract of land east of Albany Street is also occupied for hospital purposes. 





mMMimm 

PI Li n ■ fflll.li]llLltslli!iIi_;^'ll/M'-^3 



CITY HOSPITAL. 



The Hospital proper consists of a central building for administration, pay-patients, 
and surgical operating-room ; two pavilions connected with the central building by 
con-idors ; and another pavilion for separate treatment. The architectural effect, as 
will be seen from our sketch, is very fine. The Hospital receives and treats patients 
gratuitously, though many pay for their board, thereby securing separate apartments 
and additional privileges. During the 5^ear ending with the month of April, 1872, 
there were 3054 patients treated within the Hospital, besides 8947 who were under 
medical treatment in the department for out-patients. For the support of the in- 
mates of the institution during that year the city paid more than $101,000. 

The people of the South End have been, until recently, without any general mar- 
ket ; but the want has now been supplied. A great market building was erected in 
1870 at the comer of Washington and Lenox Streets, and is thus accessible to the 
people both of the South End and of Eoxbury. The building is about two hun- 
dred and fifty feet in length, and the lot on which it stands is about one hundred 
and twenty feet wide. There are nearly one hundred stalls. This is one of the neatest 
and best kept markets in the city. Its stalls are clean and bright as well as roomy, 
and the general facilities for doing business here by the market-men from the coun- 
trj^ by the occupants of the stores, and by the general public, are of the very best. 

On one of the most conspicuous sites at the South End, on the comer of Berkeley 
and Tremont Streets, stands the now nearly completed Odd Fellows' Hall. It is a 



98 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




WASHINGTON MARKET. 



building of elegant design and of imjiosing appearance. The near expiration of the 
lease of the halls now occupied by the order compelled the Odd Fellows to seek quar- 

-r-.-. .-_ ^^_ ters from which they 

^^^^^^^^g^^^^i" could not be driven. 

'--^^f^'' ^-__ rt^^ ^^^ ^^^P ^^'^^ decided 

"""^ -=--- upon in January, 

1870 ; the Odd Fel- 
lows' Hall Associa- 
tion was incorpo- 
rated by the Legisla- 
ture at that time in 
session, the money 
was raised, the site 
purchased, and work 
was begun immedi- 
ately. The comer- 
stone was laid in the 
summer of 1871, and 
the exterior of the 

building was completed before the winter set in. 8in(;e then the interior has 
been completed, and the hall has been dedicated and occupied. This structure 

covers a])out 
twelve thou- 
sand square 
feet, and is 
constructed 
of Concord 
and Hallow- 
ell white 
granite. It is 
four stories 
in height, of 
which the 
first or street 
story con- 
tains seven 
large stores, 
with spa- 
cious base- 
ments be- 
neath, ex- 
tending out 
under the 
sidewalks. 

The second story contains one audience-hall, with convenient anterooms and 
side-rooms ; also six offices on Tremont Street, with entrance from Berkeley 




ODD FELLOWS BUILDING. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



99 



Street The 'third story has three large working-halls, ^vith suitable ante- 
Street, ine ^^"-^"-^ closets- also grand lodge office and grand masters 
rooms, side-rooms, and closets , aiso guuiu i g Pommittee 
private room, mth other appendages; ^'^^ '^'''^^'Z^tt W nine^ur 
^^c Tn the fourth Story is one mammoth hall, fifty-four by mnei} lour, 

'Zl^Xt f^Mgh i' the clear fro.n floor to ^^^^^^J^Z 
and side-rooms; also a bauciuet-hall, twenty-six by one hundred and ten lee , 
rii I2g ooms and elosets. The root story contains the encampment lU 
Ind other avaUahle rooms. The grand entrance to all these halls rs from T.emont 

'%t Central Clnh is an organization lately formed^ It be^n in ^ Me ^rde 
holding almost infom>al meetings at the St. James Hotel, ni 1869. The nccessitj 
for a social ^^ -— - -^__ 

cluh at the 
South End 
had long 
been felt by 
many, and 
this organi- 
zation rapid- 
ly increased 
in member- 
ship. Only 
a few months 
after the ear- 
liest meet- 
ings, rooms 
were leased 
on Concord 
Street ; and 
in the new 
quarters the 
Club was 
once moie 
besieged 
with appli- 
cations for 
admission to 




CENTR.\L CLUB. 



me:;«. Another -ovaU-ecame necessary and in ISUthe^^^^^^^^ 
stone residence on the comer ot "^^^^^^^X^^ ^Z^^^^V tMs I>«M- 

bnt has since been temporarily dispossessed by a fare. The ^P^^mcnt r 



100 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



Boston and Albany, is situated on Beach Street, between Albany and Lincoln Streets. 
It is a plain structure of brick, and is neither as commodious, as convenient, nor as com- 
fortable as the business of the company warrants and demands. The company itself 
is aware of this, and has been for some time contemplating the erection of a larger 

and better sta- 
tion, but as yet 
its plans have 
not been ma- 
tured. This 
station is divi- 
ded longitudi- 
nally, so that 
outward and 
inward bound 
trains leave and 
arrive at two 
practically dis- 
tinct stations, 
— a plan which 
greatly lessens 
the confusion 
usually arising 
from the meet- 
ing of opposing 

cuiTcnts of passengers. The Albany road exceeds all the other railroads centring 
in Boston, not only in length, but in the amount of business done both in passen- 
gers and freight. Its supremacy in the latter particular is very marked. The 
Eastern Railroad presses close upon its heels in the number of passengers carried, 
but the Albany road transports more merchandise than all the other railroads enter- 
ing Boston combined. Although others of our railroads have western and southern 
connections, the Albany has the greater part of the land travel to New York and 
the South, as well as of the travel to Albany and the West. And it is very much 
the most important line of transportation of freight, especially of western produc- 
tions, to Boston. 

The Old Colony and Ne^^-port Railroad serves the entire South Shore of ^Massa- 
chusetts and Cape Cod ; and it also forms a link of one of the most popular rail- 
road and steamboat lines to New York, knoAvn as the "Fall River Line." The 
Old Colony road is about to absorb the Cape Cod Railroad, the Legislature having 
given the necessary authority, and both roads having voted in favor of the imion. 
The growth of both local and through business on this line during the past few years 
has been very great, owing to the rapid increase of population along the line and 
the enterprising management of the company's affairs. The latter fact is illus- 
trated by the encouragement given to new settlers in suburban villages. A year 
or two ago the company offered a free pass for a term of years to every per- 
son who would buy and occiipy during that time a house at WoUaston Heights in 
the town of Quincy. The result of this experiment has been an immense increase, 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED, 



101 



in the revenue 
of the company 
from that sta- 
tion. Similar 
liberality on the 
part of other 
raiboads would 
doubtless lead 
to equally grat- 
ifying results. 
The station 
building of this 
road, at the 
corner of Knee- 
land and South 
Streets, make^ 
noarchitectund 
pretensions ex- 
ternally, but 
within it is one 
of the largest 
and best struc- 
tures of the 
kind in the 
city. Its wait- 
ing-rooms and offices are light and airy, and are madf' as comfortable as the most 
comfortless of apartments, railroad waiting-rooms, can be. 

The United States Hotel, one of the largest hotels in the city, is directly opposite 
the Albany Station ; and being, at the same time, one of the best kept public houses 
in Boston, and near the centre of business, it has a deservedly large share of the 
patronage of travellers. 




OLD COLONY RAILROAD ST/ 




102 BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



VI. NEW BOSTON" AND THE HARBOR. 

E have already said that Boston has grown in territorial extent not only 
by robbing the sea, but by absorbing other outlying tracts of land and 
whole municipalities. The first addition of the latter kind was made in 
1637, when Noddle's Island was "layd to Boston," It was of very 
little use to the town, however, for it was practically uninhabited until 1833, when a 
company of enterprising capitalists bought the entire island and laid it out for im- 
provement. Its growth since that time has been very rapid, and it is still capable 
of great increase in population, as well as in wealth and business. A part of South 
Boston Avas taken from Dorchester in 1804 by the Legislature, much against the will 
of the people of that town, and annexed to Boston. Again, in 1855, the General 
Court added to the territory of the city by giving to it that part of South Boston 
known as Washington Village, However, Boston has now made it all right with 
Dorchester by taking to itself all that remained of that ancient town. Eoxbury, 
which had a history of its own, and a name which many of the citizens were exceed- 
ingly loath to part Avith, became a part of Boston on the 6th of January, 1868. It 
was incorporated as a town but a few days after Boston, it was the home of many dis- 
tinguished men in the annals of ^lassachusetts and the country, and it took a glori- 
ous part in the several struggles in which the Colonies and the Union were engaged. 
In the old times, when a narrow neck of land was the only connection between 
Boston and Roxbury, there were good reasons why the two should be under separate 
governments ; but long ago the two cities had met, and joined each other. It was 
not uncommon for buildings to be standing partly in one city and partly in the other. 
A man might eat dinner with his wife, he being in Boston, while she, on the 
opposite side of the table, was in Roxbury. When at last the long- vexed question 
was submitted to the voters of the two cities, it Avas enthusiastically decided by both 
in favor of union. Dorchester was incorporated the same day as Boston. It too had 
its history, and but for the manifest advantages to both municipalities of a union, 
might have retained its separate existence. The act of union, passed by the Legisla- 
ture in June, 1869, was accepted by the voters of both places the same month, and 
the union was consummated on the 3d of January, 1870. It is with a few among 
the many objects of interest in these outlying parts of Boston, and in the harbor, 
that we shall have to do in this chapter. 

One of the most interesting of the public institutions in the city is the Perkins 
Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, at South Boston. It has been 
more than forty years in operation with uninterrupted and most remarkable success. 
It was instituted in 1831. In the following year. Dr. Samuel G. Howe undertook 
its organization, and began operations with six blind children as the nucleus of a 
school. For a year the institution Avas greatly hampered by a lack of funds ; but a 
promise of an annual grant by the Legislature, a generous sum raised by a ladies' fair, 
and liberal contributions by the people of Boston, speedily settled the financial 



BOSTON ILL US TEA TED. 



lo: 



question, and opened a period of prosperity and usefulness wliicli lias continued to 
the present time. By the last report of the trustees in September, 1871, it appears 
that the whole 
number of in- 
mates since the 
opening of the 
Asylum was then 
774, and the aver- 
age number dur- 
ing preceding 
years was 153. 
The amount of 
good done by this 
Institution during 
the forty years it 
has been in op- 
eration is incalcu- 
lable. Wonders 
have been accom- 
plished in the in- 
struction of un- 
fortunate youth 
deprived of sight, 
and in some cases, 
notably that of 
Laura Bridgman, 

., , ^,, PERKINS INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND 

the absence of the 

sense of hearing also has not been an insuperable obstacle to learning. During 
its whole existence, this asylum for the blind has been under the direction of 
Dr. Howe, and a gi-eat deal of the success of the experiment is to be credited to 
his peculiar fitness for the position, and to his devotion to its interests. The 
main building, which is shown by our sketch, is situated on high gi-ound on 
Mount Washington. Quite recently the plan of the institution has been changed. 
The sexes are entirely separated, the ladies and girls having been removed t© four 
dwelling-houses built for the purpose. The inmates, of both sexes, are divided into 
families, each of which keeps a separate account of its expenses. The Asylum is 
partly self-supporting, such of the jjupils as are able to pay maintaining themselves 
as at a boarding-school, and all the pupils being taught some useful trade. Several 
States, particularly the New England States, pay for the support of a large number 
of beneficiaries. 

The Boston and Albany Railroad Company has earned the gratitude of the busi- 
ness men of Boston by many enterprises, which have both increased its great reve- 
nues and added to the commerce of Boston, but by nothing more than by its pur- 
chase and extensive use of the Grand Junction Railroad and the Wharf at East Bos- 
ton. The railroad forms a connection between the main line of the Boston and 
Albany, and the Fitchburg, Lowell, Eastern, and Boston and Maine Railroads, and 




lU-i 



BOSTOX ILL USTRA TED. 



gives the Albany road a deep-water connection. AVlieat-trains from tlie West are 
here emptied of Wn-'w contents by machinery directly into an elevator, from which in 

turn vessels may be rapidly 

r^ 

1W° 




loaded. Ample facilities are 
atibrded for loading and nn- 



Avhich swell so largely the 
tables of exports and imports 
of this port. And the facili- 
ties for the reception and de- 
spatch of immigrants at the 
Grand Junction Wharf are 
imeipialled by those of any 
other city on the continent. 
Such as are to continue their 
journey by land into other 
States are provided with every 
comfort, and completely se- 
cluded from the sharpers who 
are always on the look-out 
for an opportunity to swindle 
the poor foreigners unused to 
the customs and often igno- 
rant of the language of the 
country, until they are sent 
I away in trains over the Grand 
5 Junction and the Boston and 
D Albany roads without be- 
ing compelled even to pass 
through the city. The amount 
of business transacted at this 
Avharf is inmiense. During 
the six months ending with 
March, 1872, there were 
14,558 cars of freight, with 
139,187 tons of merchandise 
received; and 11,127 cars, 
loaded with 114,128 tons of 
freight, were forwarded. In 
the same time upwards of a 
million bushels of grain were 
received at the elevator, and 
617,826 bushels were shipped 
from it for exportation to for- 
eign countries. The railroad 
and wharves were built iu 



BOSTON ILLUSTllATKD. 



105 



1850-51 and on the occasion of their opening a three days' jubilee was held m Bos- 
ion, in which many notables, the President of the United States among them, par- 
ticipated But the sanguine expectations of the people of Boston were not realized 
until long afterwards. The enterprise did not pay. And when the present owners 
came into possession of the property in 1868, no train had been run over the road in 
fourteen years. Vast improvements have been made since then. The manner of 
doino- Lushiess at the wharf, as well as its immense amount, is interesting enough 
to repay amply the trouble of a visit. Our sketch shows the extent of the improve- 
ments, and gives a good view of the city from East Boston. 

Eliot Sciuare, into which Dudley, AVashington, and other streets converge, is a 
small park in Boxbury, which possesses several points of interest. Here stands the 
old Unitarian meet- 
ing - house of the 
lirst church in Rox- 
Lury, taking rank 
in age next after 
the lirst church in 
Boston. Over this 
church the Kev, 
Dr. George Putnam 
has been settled 
for more than forty 
years. The dwell- 
ing-houses in tliis 
square are many of 
them old, this part 

of Boxbury having ^^^^^ church in roxbury, and the Norfolk house. 

been settled long , ^ , • • j. ^ 

before the over-crowded streets of Boston sent thousands of the citizens to seek 
sites for modern villas on the more picturesciue hillsides of this and other suburban 
towns. On this scpiare, too, stands the Norfolk House, a line building externally, 
and a favorite boarding-hotel. , . . i 

One of the most important improvements in the Cochituate water-works was 
made in 1869, when the stand-pipe in Boxbury was erected and put m use. By 
tlds simple expedient, which has been found to work admirably m pi'actice, the 
. "head" of water has been increased over the whole city so greatly that the pure 
water is forced to the highest levels occupied by dwelling-houses. The stand-pipe is 
ou the "Old Fort" lot in Boxbury, T)etweeii Beech-Glen Avenue and Fort Avenue. 
The base of the shaft is 158 feet above tide marsh level. The interior pipe is a 
cvlinder of boiler iron, eighty feet long; and around this pipe, but within the exterior, 
waU of brick, is a winding staircase leading to a lookout at the top. The total cost 
of the structure and the pumping-works connected with it was about $100 000. 
It was at first intended to supply high service to only those parts of the city at the 
higher levels, but its capacity was found adequate to the supply of the whole city 
and the use of the old reservoir on Beacon Hill was therefore abandoned, though it 
would doubtless become useful in case of an accident to these works. 




106 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



Eoxbury always had a good reputation 
for remembering its great men. Ameri- 
can cities do not nowadays follow the cus- 
tom of naming districts or wards after 
their famous men, and in some of them 
even the streets are mostly called by nvmi- 
bers. Paris goes to one extreme, com- 
memorating days and historical events by 
such names as Rue Dix Decembre, Eue 
de la Dette, changed from Boulevard 
Haussmann, and so on. New York and 
Washington go to the other extreme with 
their Avenue A's, and their Four-and-a- 
half Streets. Boston has gone but slight- 
ly into this unromantic nomenclature, and 



Roxbury not at all. 
Dudley, Eustis, and 
Warren Streets, and 
numerous others 
named in memory 
of distinguished citi- 
zens. General Jo- 
seph W^arren has 
been especially re- 
membered, for besides 
the street which 



We have still our 





bears his name, 
there is a steam fire- 
engine called after 
him, and the dwell- 
ing-house that 
stands on the spot 
where his house 
stood, bears a tab- 
let commemorating 
the fact. The house 
stands in a charm- 
ing site behind a 
row of iine old 
trees. 

In another part 
of Eoxbury is the 




STAND-PIPE OF COCHITUATE WATER-WORKS. 




famous chromo -lithographic 
establishment of Prang & Co. 
The process of making chro- 
mos is one of the most inter- 
esting of the arts. The care 
with which each stone mu.st 
be prepared, every one adding 
one color, and only one, to 
the picture that is by and 
by to appear ; the successive 
steps by which apparently 
shapeless patches of color 
are transformed into excel- 
lent and aitistic imitations 
of well-known oil paintings, 
— these and other facts to be 
learned by a visit to such an 
establishment are of great 
interest. This factory of 



WARREN HOUSE. 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



107 



Prang's is the most extensive of the kind in the country, and it is to the credit 
of Boston that the reputation of the chromos produced here is not inferior to 
that of any others. - ^ 

Many, indeed, pre- _ ^g-_,^^^ 

fer American litho- _^ ^^^C^^ -- 

graphs to those ^.^ 

made in Europe, 
and when American 
chromos are men- 
tioned, it is usually 
Prang's that are 
meant. 

Doichester was a 
delightful old town 
and a charming new 
town. It retains its 
ancient character- 
istics, and some of 
the very old houses 
are still preserved. 
But its picturesque 
liills and its fine 
old woods have 
within the past few 

years made it a favorite place for the erection of elegant country residences. On 
many of the es- -^,-=;^f ,.?=?> 

bates vast sums — ^:.-si:-J^:v^r5^ii^ 

of money wme 
lavished. The 
skill of the ai- 
chitect and Ihe 
art of the land- 
scape - gardenei 
were invoked to 
render these le- 
treats as mag- 
nificent as pos- 
sible. By such 
means the scen- 
ery of Dorches- 
ter has been 
made exceed- 
ingly rich and 
varied. Heie 
the road passes 
through the midst of large and finely kept estates, surrounding handsome dwelling- 





MEETIXG-HUUSE HILL. 



108 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



houses, to plunge into a wilderness, where the fields are barren and rocky, and the 

forests in all their primitive wildness. 
Again we come upon a thriving 
village, and pass out of it to find 
new beauties by the sea-side. We 
give two views of Dorchester scen- 
ery, the one showing Meeting- House 
Hill, which is one of the land- 
marks in Dorchester, and the other 
Savin Hill, as seen from Dorchester 
Point, — the first belonging to the 
older part of Dorchester, the latter 
comparatively new as a place of resi- 
dence. 

The estate known as Grove Hall, 
at the junction of Warren Street and 
Blue Hill Avenue, in Dorchester, was 
purchased for the Consumptives' 
Home a year or two since, and is now 
occupied Tjy that and its attendant 
institutions. It is a very large and 
spacious mansion, and is surrounded 
with ample grounds, making the situ- 
ation a most pleasant retreat for the 
poor, diseased people who come here 
for treatment and cure, or for a com- 
- fortable home until they are released 
from suff"ering by death. The system 
on which the Consumptives' Home 
is supported is the same as that upon 
which the famous orphan asylum of 
Miiller is maintained. The founder 
was Dr. Charles Cullis, whose atten- 
tion was drawn, in 1862, to the lack 
of provision in atty existing hospital 
for persons sick A\'ith consumption, 
and incurable. He began without 
any funds, and makes it a practice 
to depend upon daily contributions 
for the daily wants of the Home. 
Dr. Cullis calls this institution "A 
Work of Faith," because he has never 
solicited any donations, but has 
prayed to God for aid in the work ; 
and he looks upon the contributions 
he receives as direct answers to his 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



109 




prayers. The receipts from casual donations, from the proceeds of a fair, and from 
the estate of the late Miss Nabby Joy, in 1871, exceeded the sum of fifty-five thou- 
sand dollars During the year there were one him- 
dred and elght^ fi^ e patients cared for at the Home, 
the usual numbei being from thirty to fifty. Since 
the op( ning of the hospital there have been seven 
bundled and fift}-se\en received, of whom only 
thiit} thiee ^^ere lemaining at the close of the 
year last reported. The 
plan of the institution is 
^— -^r^ ---=^ to admit all poor persons 

~^^ sick with consumption, and 

without home or friends 
to relieve them, old or 
young, black or white, na- 
tive or foreign. All are, in 
the language of the Report, 
"freely received in the 
name of the Lord." 

Boston harbor is pro- 
tected by the natural 
breakAvater on which 
stands the town of Hull. 
consumptives' home, DORCHESTER. Thls Is a vciy siugukr 

peninsula, jutting northward from the South Shore, and partially enclosing a very 
extensive tract of water. Hull has several points of interest. Nantasket Beach, 
on the side of the peninsula towards the sea, is one of the finest on the coast, and 
it has therefore become a favorite place of resort in the summer for thousands of 
the citizens of Boston. The summer population is largest at the lower or southern 
end of the peninsula, while the permanent population is mostly concentrated near 
the other extremity. It is the latter part of the town that is represented by our 
view. On the high hill, which overlooks the entire entrance to Boston Harbor, 
is situated the observatory, from which tbe arrival of vessels, their names, and 
the point whence they come are telegi-aphed immediately to the ISIerchants' Ex- 
change in the city. Hull is one of the smallest towns in Massachusetts, and there 
have been many jokes at its expense on this account. The vote of the town is 
almost always one of the first returned at a general election. From this there has 
arisen the curious saying, " As goes Hull, so goes the State," — a saying which is very 
far from true. Dr. Holmes said in his Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, that in 
this town they read a famous line with a mispronunciation pardonable under the 
circumstances, — 

" All are but parts of one stupendous Hull." 

The harbor of Boston is filled Avith islands, most of which have a history that it 
would be exceedingly interesting to recount. In the summer season there are numer- 
ous steamboats plying between the city and the many places of resort in the harbor 
and just outside of it. For almost the smallest of fees one may steam in and out 



110 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




between the several islands, and en- 
joy, on the most sultry of days, a cool 
and refreshing breeze, together with 
the most delightful and ever- changing 
scenery. Among a great many points 
of interest only a very few can be here 
mentioned, and we confine ourselves 
to the lighthouses and some of the 
fortifications. The first fort built up- 
on Castle Island was constructed in 
1634, and since that time the island 
has always been fortified. The works 
have been rebuilt a gi'eat many times. 
Castle William stood on this island 
when the Revolutionary war broke 
out, and when the British troops were 
obliged to evacuate Boston they de- 
stroyed the fort and burned it to ashes. 
The Provincial forces then took pos- 
session of the island, and restored the 
fort. In 1798 its name was formally 
J changed to Fort Independence, — the 
5 President, John Adams, being present 
i on the occasion. In 1798 the island 
^ was ceded to the United States. From 
> 1785 until 1805 this fort was the 
place appointed for the confinement 
of prisoners sentenced to hard labor, 
j^rovision having been made in the 
act of cession to the United States 
that this privilege should be retained. 
The present fort is of quite recent 
construction. 

Directly opposite Fort Indepen- 
dence, as one enters or leaves the in- 
ner harbor by the main ship-channel, 
is the still uncompleted fortification 
named Fort Winthrop, on Governor's 
Island. The island was granted to 
Governor Winthrop in 1632, and was 
subse(|uently confirmed to his heirs. 
In 1640, the conditions of his owner- 
ship having already been once previ- 
ously changed, he was granted the 
island on condition of paying one 
bushel of apples to the Governor and 



BOSTON ILL US TEA TED. 



Ill 



one to the General Court in winter, annually. It continued in the sole possession 
of the Winthrop family until 1808, when a part of it was sold to the government 




DEPENDExNCE. 



for the purpose of erecting a fort, which was named Fort Warren. The name given 
to the Avork now in process of erection is Fort Winthrop, in honor of the Governor 
of Massachusetts Bay and first owner of the island, while the name of the fonner 
fort has been transferred to the fortification further dowii the harbor. "When fully 
completed, Fort Winthrop is intended to be a most important defence to the harbor. 




FORT WINTHROP. 



Fort Warren is situated on George's Island, near the entrance to the harbor, and 
is the most famous of all the defences of the city. George's Island was claimed as 
the property of James Pemberton of Hull as early as 1622. His possession of it 
having been confirmed, it was bought, sold, and inherited by numerous owners, 
until 182.5, when it became the property of the city of Boston. It is now, of course, 



112 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



under the 



jurisdiction of the United States government. The construction of the 

present fort was begun in April, 1833, 
and was completed in 1850. The ma- 
terial is finely hammered Quincy gran- 
ite, and the stone faces, as well as those 
parts that have been protected with 
earth and sodded over, are as neat and 
trim as art can make them. The fort 
is one of great strength, but it has 
never yet been needed to defend the 
harbor of Boston. During the Rebel- 
lion, it was used as a place of confine- 
ment for noted Confederate prisoners, 
the most famous of all being the rebel 
commissioners to Europe, Mason and 
Slidell, who were sent here for confine- 
ment after their capture on board the 
Trent by Commodore Wilkes. 

About two miles from Fort Warren, 
nearly due east, and at the entrance 
of the harbor, is the Boston Light. 
The island on which it stands has been 
used as a lighthouse station since 
1715, when the General Court of the 
frilHI^^ll H^ colony passed the necessary acts. The 
land was generously given to the col- 
ony by the owners of it, though as 
there is soil on only about three quar- 
ters of an acre, the rest of the two or 
three acres being bare, jagged rock, 
the gift entailed no great loss upon 
them. In the time of the Revolution, 
the lighthouse was the object of much 
small warfare, and was several times 
destroyed and rebuilt. In 1783 it was 
once more restored by the State, being 
built this time of stone ; and it is this 
lighthouse which still stands at the 
mouth of the harbor, though it has 
since been enlarged and refitted sev- 
eral times. The top of the lighthouse 
now stands ninet5''-eight feet above the 
level of the sea, and is fitted with a 
revolving light Avhich can be seen from 
a distance of sixteen nautical miles in 
fair weather. 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



113 




BOSTON LIGHT. 

Still nearer to Fort Warren, and on the direct line to Boston Light, is the Spit, 
Bug Light. It is a cu- 
rious structure. The 
lower part is a system 
of iron pillars fixed in 
the rock, affording no 
surface for the waves 
to beat against and 
destroy. The fixed red 
light is about thirty - 
five feet above the 
level of the sea, and 
can be seen at a dis- 
tance of about seven 
miles in clear weather. 
This light was built 

. „^ _, 1 . ^ . BUG LIGHT. 

m 1856. Its object is 

to warn navigators of the dangerous obstacle known as Harding's Ledge, about two 

miles out at sea, east of Point Allerton, at the head of Nantasket Beach. 

The lighthouse on Long Island was built in 1819. The tower is twenty-two feet 
in height, but the light is eighty feet above the level of the sea. The tower is of 
iron painted white ; the lantern has nine burners ; the light is fixed, and can be seen 
in a clear night about fifteen miles. The object of the light is to assist in the 
navigation of the harbor. The government is at present erecting on Long Island 
head a strong battery, which has not yet been named. There have been several 
attempts to make Long Island a place for summer residences. There has been a 




114 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



hotel on the island for some years, but it has been popular only intermittently. 
There is no good reason why these charming islands should not be so occupied in 
preference to some of the more distant points on the coast, where only occasional 




LONG ISLAND LIGHT. 

cool breezes relicA'e the heat of summer. An admirable suggestion has been made, 
that the city purchase Long Island, or some other large island in the harbor, and 
convert it into a park, to which visitors might be carried on the payment of a fare 
no larger than is demanded for a ride in the horse-cars. 

East of Long Island head there is a low, rocky island on which stands a singularly 
shaped monument. It consists of a solid structure of stone, twelve feet in height, 
and forty feet square. All the stones in this piece of masonry are securely fastened 
together with copper. Upon it stands an octagonal pyramid of wood, twenty feet 
high, and painted black. It is supposed that this monument was erected in the 
earliest years of the present century, though the date is not knoAvn. Its purpose 
was to warn vessels of one of the most dangerous shoals in the harbor. This island 

is known as Nix's Mate, though for what reason is 
not known. There is a tradition, unsupported by 
facts, that the mate of a vessel of which one Cap- 
tain Nix was master, was executed upon the island 
for killing the latter. But it was known as "Nixes 
Hand," as long ago as 1636, and this would seem 
to dispose of the story. It is, however, true, that 
several murderers and pirates have been hanged 
nix's mate. upon the island, and one AVilliam Fly was hanged 

there in chains in 1726 for the crime of piracy, on which occasion, the Boston 
NeAvs Letter informs us, Fly " behaA'ed himself very unbecomingly, even to the 
last." It is a part of the tradition above referred to that Nix's mate declared 
his innocence, and asserted, as a proof of it, that the island Avoiild be Avashed aAvay. 
If any such prophecy Avas ever made, it has certainly been fulfilled. "We know 
by the records that it contained in the neighborhood of tAvelve acres in 1636 ; 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 115 

there is now not more than one acre of shoal, and there is not a vestige of soil 
remaining. 

Point Shirley is the southern extremity of the town of Winthrop, but it properly 
comes into any notice of Boston harbor. Its chief attraction is Taft's Hotel, noted 
for its game dinners. Indeed Point Shirley, ever since it received its present name, 
has been synonymous with good cheer. A company of merchants purchased it in 



POINT SHIRLEY. 



1753, designing to establish a fishery station. They never put the property to its 
intended use, but when they were ready to advertise the place, they invited Gover- 
nor Shirley to go down to the spot with them. He accepted, the party had a fine 
time and a fine dinner, and, by permission of his Excellency, what had before been 
known as Pulling Point was dubbed Point Shirley. The name of Pulling Point has 
since been transferred to another point of land on the same peninsula. 

"We have only glanced at the harbor and a few of the numerous places of interest 
in and about it. The merest mention only can be made of some of the other points 
that are worthy of being seen, and of being illustrated and described. The islands 
in the harbor are many, and of very peculiar shapes, which fact has given some of 
them their names, — as, for instance. Spectacle, Half Moon, and Apple Islands. 
Few of them are occupied, and many are uninhabitable, but the sail among and 
around them is in the summer time a most agi-eeable change from the hot brick walls 
and dusty streets of the oity. If Ave extend our view beyond the harbor along the 
north shore we shall see Eevere Beach, — one of the finest on the coast, — Lynn, 
and Nahant. Both the latter places may easily be visited by steamers. Nahant is 
perhaps the chief glory of the north shore. It is a peninsula connected with the 
mainland at Lynn by a long narrow neck, upon which is a noble beach. Those who 
dwell upon the peninsula regard its comparative inaccessibility as something strongly 
in its favor. They have not allowed a hotel to be erected upon it since the destruc- 
tion by fire of one that formerly stood in the town. Nahant is a favorite resort for 
picnickers, for whom a place has been specially provided which is fantastically called 
Maolis Gardens, — Maolis being nothing more than Siloam spelled backwards. For 
the rest, Nahant is occupied by wealthy citizens of Boston who have erected for them- 



116 BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 

selves in this secluded place elegant summer residences wliere, in the midst of their gar- 
dens and groves and lawns, they may live as freely and as quietly as they wish. The 
sea- view is magnificent. The 2)eninsula lies near to the entrance of Boston harbor, and 
is practically an island at some distance from the coast. All the grandeur of the sea 
in a storm, and all the beauty of the sea on a fine day when the horizon is dotted 
with the white sails of arriving and departing vessels, the dwellers at Nahant enjoy 
at their gi-andest and most beautiful. Beyond Nahant are Egg Rock, a small isi.ind 
still farther than Nahant from the coast ; Marblehead Neck and Point, which are 
rapidly coming into favor as summer resorts ; Swampscott, already one of the most 
fashionable of the coast watering-places ; and Cape Ann, with its succession of beau- 
tiful sea-side villages, — Beverly Farms, Manchester, Gloucester, Rockport, and 
Pigeon Cove. On the south coast we may find equally interesting and equally beau- 
tiful places. At Hingham, among other objects to be noticed, is the oldest church 
edifice in the country ; and oft' Cohasset is the famous Minot's Ledge Lighthouse, a 
solid stone structure that stands where a former lighthouse was destroyed by a storm 
some years ago, on one of the most dangerous and most dreaded rocks upon our 
coast. 



--^<^-' 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



117 



VII. THE SUBUEBS. 




other city in the country can "boast such suburbs as Boston has. For ex- 
tent and beauty, they are unrivalled. The picturesque hills, separated 
m^^lw ^y beautifully winding rivers, make, of themselves, an ever-varied picture 
of charming landscaj)e. Art has added greatly to the beauties which 
nature has so lavishly scattered. Almost every available site for a fine country resi- 
dence has been occupied, and all that wealth could do to improve upon natural 
attractions has been done. But this is not all. Large cities and a score of flourish- 
ing towns have sprung up, where city and country are pleasantly commingled ; and 
everywhere throughout the large district of which Boston is the centre may be seen 
the evidences of industry and thrift, excellent roads, neat fences and hedges, thriv- 
ing gardens and orchards, comfortable, tastefully built, and well-painted houses. 
Nor are these toA\Tis and cities destitute of a history, which, did space permit, should 
be told at length. We can merely glance at a few of the more noticeable objects of 
interest in some of these surrounding 
places, leaving it to each citizen and 
visitor to search out the others, with 
the assurance that one can hardly go 
astray in seeking for them, whatever 
be the direction taken. 

The first object to be noticed is 
the grand monument erected in 
Charlestown to commemorate the bat- 
tle of Bunker Hill ; but the mon- 
ument needs no description. The 
event it celebrates and the conse- 
quences of that event, the appearance 
of this imposing gi-anite shaft, and 
the magnificent view of the entire 
surrounding country to be obtained 
from its observatory, are, or sliould 
be, familiar to every citizen of New 
England ; and no visitor to Boston 
from more distant parts of the coun- 
try is likely to return home without 
ascending the monument as a good 
patriot. The oration delivered by 
Daniel Webster at the dedication of 
the monument on the anniversary of 
the battle of Bunker Hill, the 17th of June, 1843, has been declaimed by every 
school-boy. That anniversary is still, and should long remain, a holiday, — a day 




BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 



118 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



be celebrated in Charlestown and throughout the State and country as long as the 

Eepublic, which owes so much 
to that memorable contest, shall 
stand. 

No visitor to Charlestown should 
leave it until he has visited the 
United States Navy Yard, estab- 
lished by the government in the 
year 1800. The yard has since 
been very greatly enlarged, and 
extensive and costly buildings 
have been erected upon it. The 
dry dock, which was begun in 
July, 1827, and completed six 
years later, is a magnificent and 
most substantial work of granite 
masonry, 341 feet long, 80 feet 
wide, and 30 feet deep, which 
§ cost even in those days of low 
% prices 1 675,000. The granite 
ro])ewalk too, the finest structure 

< of the kind in the country, and 
- a quarter of a mile in length, will 
5 not fail to attract attention. Sev- 
£ eral of the largest vessels of our 

< old navy Avere built at this yard. 
> Of late, while the government has 

< been reducing, rather than in- 
u creasing, its naval force, the work 
^ here has been confined chiefly to 

repairs upon old vessels, and the 
busy activity of past years is no 
longer seen. 

The United States Marine Hos- 
jntal at Chelsea, which appears on 
the right in the background of our 
sketch, is a large and handsome 
structure upon the crest of a high 
hill, near the mouth of the Mystic 
River. This institution, as well 
as the Naval Hospital, at the 
foot of the same hill, was erected 
and is maintained by the general 
government for the benefit of in- 
valid sailors. The situation is 
salubrious, and the jirospect from 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



119 



the Marine Hospital, overlooking as it does the harbor and two or three cities, is 
very fine. 

Passing now into Cambridge, we must first notice it as the site of the most fa- 
mous, as well as most ancient, university in the country. It was but six years after 
the settlement of Boston that the General Court appropriated four hundred pounds 
for the establishment of a school or college at Newtown, as Cambridge was then 
called. As this sum was equal to a whole year's tax of the entire colony, we may 
infer in what estimation the earliest colonists held a liberal education. Two years 
after, the institution received the liberal beipiest of eight hundred pounds from 
the estate of the Rev. John Harvard, an English clergyman, who died at Charles- 
town in 1638. The General Court, in conserpience of this be(|uest, named the 
college after its generous benefactor, and changed the name of the town where 




C RI H\LL H 



old England. The college was thus placed on a firm foundation, and by good 
management and the prevalence of liberal ideas, under the fostering care of the 
Colony and the State, and the almost lavish generosity of alumni and other friends, 
it has assumed and steadily maintained the leading position among the colleges of 
the country, its only rival being Yale. The college long ago became a university. 
Schools of law, medicine, dentistry, theology, science, mining, and agriculture, have 
been established in connection with it, each endowed with its own funds, and each 
independent of all the others, except that all are under one general management. 
The college yard contains a little more than twenty-two acres, and nearly the whole 
available space is already occupied by the numerous buildings required by an institu- 
tion of such magnitude. An important change has been made within the past few 
years in the government of the university ; the overseers, constituting the second 



120 



BOSTON ILL USTUA TED. 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



121 



and more numerous branch of the university legishiture, were originally the Governor 
and Deputy- Governor, Avith all the magistrates, and the ministers of the six adjoin- 
ing towns. After numerous changes, which were, however, only changes in the 
manner of selecting the clergymen who should constitute this board, the power of 
choosing the overseers was, in 1851, vested in the Legislature. All this system has 
since been abolished. The graduates of the college have been gi'anted the privilege 
of choosing the entire board ; and ever}^ member of it, as now constituted, has been 
elected by this constituency. The advantages of thus making those who are most 
interested in the good management of the college partially responsible for its govern- 
ment were at once apparent, and other colleges have not been slow in practising 
upon so satisfactory an experiment. Another change, which has been gi-adually 
going on for some years, gives students a much wider range of studies than formerly. 
The number of elective studies has very greatly increased, and one is not now, 
as formerly, compelled to pursue a fixed and unalterable course, but may choose 
the branches he will pursue in accordance with his tastes and his intended business 
in hfe. The number of students in all branches of the university, by the latest 
catalogue, was 1214. There are nine libraries connected with the university, con- 
taining in all about 192,000 volumes, of which 128,000 are in the college library 
in Gore Hall, a view of which we give. The university is now under the able presi- 
dency of Charles W. Eliot. 

Cambridge is noted not only for being the seat of the first college in Amer- 
ica, but for having been the first place in the country where a printing-press was 
setup. In 1639 
a press was 
brought over 
from England, 
and put in op- 
eration in the 
house of the 
President, who 
had the sole 
charge of it 
for many years. 
The first thing 
printed upon it 
was the Free- 
man's Oath, fol- 
lowed by an 
Almanack for 
New England, 
and the Psalms 
"newly turned 

into meter." A fragment of the last-named work is preserved in the college library, 
and copies of it may still be seen in some anti(piarian libraries. Cambridge has at 
the present day some of the largest and most completely furnished printing-offices in 
America, conspicuous among which is the University Press of Welch, Bigelow, k Co. 




THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE. 



122 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



Their office is one of the most celebrated in the country for the quality and 

accuracy of its work. Many of the hundreds of thousands of books published 

annually in Boston, and not a few of those issued by publishers in New York, 

including illustrated books requiring the finest workmanship and the greatest care, 

are printed and bound at this establishment. 

Not very far from the college grounds stands one of the few famous trees of the 

country, — the Washington Elm, — the only survivor of the ancient forest that origi- 

W'Zif-^ A '-■- -^-y.-yf- nally covered all this 

' '^^^ --:-.c«j«rtr-.».v/ < rfi*?. p^^.^ Q^ Cambridge. 

It was under this 
tree that General 
Washington took 
command of the Con- 
tinental army on the 
morning of the 3d of 
July, 1775. A neat 
fence surrounds this 
giant of the ancient 
forest, and an in- 
scription commemo- 
rates the important 
event which was the 
most interesting in 
its centuries of ex- 
istence. 

At a short dis- 
tance from this fa- 
mous elm, on the 
road to Watertown, 
Brattle Street, 
stands the house 
Ubcd by the pa- 
ti lot general 
is his head- 
quarters. . It 
^\ as previously 
the residence 
of ColonelJohn 
V issal, a royal- 
ist or Tory, but 
w as used by 
General Wash- 
ington on its 
abandonment 
b} the owner ; 
and here con- 

RESIDEN'CE OF " ^^' invnFRiTow llllUeU tO DC 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



123 



the head-quarters of the American army, for the greater part of the time, until the 
evacuation of Boston by the British in the spring of 1776. The house stands in a 
large and beautiful lot of ground, a little distance from the street, in the midst of 
tall trees and shrubbery, and though in a style of architecture different from that now 
generally employed, it is still an elegant residence in external appearance, while the 
rich and costly finish 
of the interior has been 
preserved by its suc- 
cessive owners. The 
present possessor and 
occupant of this noble 
estate is the poet, 
Henry AVadswo] th 
Longfellow, and suic 
ly there is more than 
poetic fitness in such 
an occupation of a 
house around which 
cling so many histori- 
cal associations. 

Mount Auburn Cem- 
etery is sitiiated partly 
in Cambridge and 
partly in Waterto^^n 
The land was origi- 
nally purchased and improved by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for an 
experimental gar- 
den. It subsequently _ — _ %i:S^ -^ 
passed into the hands 
of the trustees of 
Mount Auburn Cem- 
etery, and was con- 
secrated in the year 
1831. It is noAvone 
of the most extensive 
cities of the dead 
used by the people of 
Boston, being in ex- 
tent about one hun- 
dred and twenty-five 
acres. The surface is 
remarkably diversi- 
fied, giving unusual 
opportunities to the 
landscape - gardener 
to improve the nat- ghapel, mount auburn. 




ENTIt^NCF TO MOl NT ^URl RV 







124 



BOSTON- ILLUSTRATED, 



ural beauty of tlie scenery. There are several sheets of water, and high hills and 
deep vales in abundance. Trees in great variety have been transplanted into this 
enclosure, adding greatly to its beauty. Upon the summit of the highest hill, 
Mount Auburn proper, a stone tower has been erected, from which a very fine view 
of all the surrounding country can be obtained. Many elegant and costly mon- 
uments adorn the grounds in every part. Some of these have been erected and the 
expense defrayed by public subscription, but many more by the surviving friends of 
the thousands who here sleep the last sleep. The granite entrance-gate was designed 
from an Egyptian model, and was erected at a cost of about ten thousand dollars. 
The very beautiful chapel was built in 1848, at an expense of twenty-five thousand 
dollars. It is used for funeral services at the cemetery. There are around the walls, 
within, several excellent statues and memorials, one of which, a statue of James 
Otis, by Crawford, is particularly to be admired. 

The history of the Boston Waterworks is exceedingly interesting. The original 
introduction of water is described on page 28. The growth of the city has been 

so wonderful that what 
was originally calcu- 
lated to be a sufficient 
supply of water for 
half a century was, in 
a few years, found to 
be inadequate. Again 
and again have meas- 
ures been taken to 
make good the defi- 
ciency, but it was 
only in 1872 that a 
comprehensive scheme 
was entered upon, 
which, when com- 
pleted, will, it is be- 
2^^^- lieved, avert for an 
'i:3- indefinite period all 
fears of a water fam- 

ENTRANCE TO THE RESERVOIR GROUNDS. J^^^ QuC Of the WOrks 

which foi-med a part of the original system is the Brookline Reservoir. This 
was a natural basin, protected on all sides except on the north. A puddled 
embankment was constructed on this side, and the interior of the entire basin 
protected from washing by a sloping wall, and the reservoir proper was complete. 
The reservoir marks the terminus of the brick conduit leading from Lake Cochituate. 
From the reservoir to the city the water is conducted by iron mains. There are two 
gate-houses, one at either end of the reservoir. The whole surface of water, when 
the reservoir is full, covers about twenty-three acres, and its capacity to a point two 
feet below the top of the dam is nearly one hundred and twenty million gallons. 

The necessity for building a new reservoir, for the purpose of storing the water that 
usually ran to waste over the dam at Lake Cochituate duiing and after the spring 




BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



125 




126 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 




GATE HOUSE, CHESTNUT HILL. 

ral basin. It is five miles fiom the 
Boston City Hall, and one mile fiom 
the Brookline Reservoir. It lies in 
the towns of Newton and Brook- 
line, near Chestnut Hill, from ^^ hich 
it derives its name. It is, in fact, a 
double reservoir, being divided by a 
water-tight dam into two basins of 
irregular shape. The surface of wa- 
ter in both is about one hundied 
and twenty-five acres, and ^\hen 
filled to their fullest capacity the 
two basins Avill hold neaily eight 
hundred million gallons, or a suffi- 
cient supply for the entire city for 
several weeks. As Ave have said, even 



and fall freshets, was urged by 
the Water Board in 1863, but 
nothingAvas then done about it. 
The next year the City Council 
began to move in the matter. 
In 1865 the Legislature gave the 
necessary authority to the city. 
Purchases of land Avere imme- 
diately made, and the Avork be- 
gun. More than tAVo hundred 
acres of land, costing about 
$120,000, were deeded to the 
city before the reservoir Avas 
finished. Like the Brookline 
Reservoir, it constituted a natu- 




THE DRIVE, ON THE MARGIN OF THE SMALL RESERVOIR. 



BO ST ox ILLUSTRATED. 



127 



this addition to the works has been found inadetjuate, and during the 

thority was obtained for the city to 

take water from the Sudbury River. 

A temporary supply was procured by 

connecting the river with Lake Cochit- 

uate, and the work of bringing the 

water to the reservoirs by independent 

mains is now in progress. 

The Chestnut Hill Reservoir is not 
only a great benefit to the city in its 
practical uses, it is also a great pleasure 
resort. A magnificent driveway, va- 
rying from sixty to eighty feet in 
width, surrounds the entire work, and 
is one of the greatest attractions of the 
suburbs of Boston, It is, in fact, the 
most popular drive in the vicinity. In 
some parts the road runs along close 
to the embankment, separated from it 
only by the beautiful gravelled walk 
with the sodding on either side. 
Elsewhere it leaves the embankment 
and rises to a higher level at a little 
distance, from which an uninterrupted 
view of the entire reservoir can be had. 
The scenery in the neighborhood is so 
varied that it would of itself make this 
region a delightful one for pleasure 
driving, without the added attractions 
of the charming sheet of water, the 
graceful curvatures of the road, and 
the neat, trim appearance of the gi-een- 
sward that lines it throughout its en- 
tire length. 

Before the introduction of water from 
Lake Cochituate the city was dependent 
upon wells and springs, and upon Ja- 
maica Pond, in the town of West Rox- 
bury. A company was incorporated 
in 1795 to bring water into Boston 
from that source, and its powers wei'e 
enlarged by subsequent acts. It was 
for a long time a bad investment for 
the shareholders. Afterwards the com- 
pany had a greater degi-ee of prosperity, 
and at one time it supplied at least 



year 1872 au- 




128 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



fifteen hundred houses in Boston. 

1 ,h. IrlLi 




The water was convej^ed through the streets by 
four main pipes, consisting of pine 
logs. Two of these were of four 
inches, and two of three inches bore. 
The water thus brouglit into the city 
was conveyed nearly as far north as 
State Street. In 1840 an iron main, 
ten inches in diameter, was laid 
through the whole length of Tremont 
Street to Bowdoin S([uare. The com- 
]iany was ready to increase the supply 
very largely, but the prospective 
wants of the city were far beyond the 
capacity of Jamaica Pond to supply, 
and the Lake Cochituate enterprise 
not only prevented the aqueduct com- 
panj^ from enlarging its oj>erations, 
but rendered all its outlay in Boston 
useless and valueless. The city, how- 
ever, made compensation by purchas- 
o ing the franchise and property for the 
JJ sum of % 45,000, in 1851. The prop- 
D erty, minus the franchise, which the 
""^ city of course wished to extinguish, 

i was sold in 1856 for $32,000. At this 

o 

■^ time the pipes were disconnected at 

H the Roxbury line, but those in Boston 
s were never taken up. At present the 
■"" chief practical use of Jamaica Pond is 
to furnish in winter a great quantity 
of ice, which is cut and stored in the 
large houses on its banks for consump- 
tion in the wann weather. It is a 
great resort for young and some older 
peojile in the winter for skating. 
Beautiful residences line its banks, 
and the drive around it is one of the 
most beautiful of the many which 
make the suburbs of Boston so at- 
tractive to its own citizens and to 
strangers. In summer there is much 
pleasure sailing and roAving on the 
pond, and in past years there have 
been several interesting regattas up- 
on it. 

Forest Hills Cemetery, also in the 



BO^'STON ILL UH Til A TED. 



129 




ENTRANCE TO FOREST HILLS. 



town of West Koxbury, Avas originally established by the city of Roxbuiy, of which 
the town at the time formed a part. It was subsequently conveyed to the predeces- 
sors of the present 
proprietors. It is a 

little larger in ter- -^ 

ritory than Mount 
Auburn, but it is 
by no means su 
crowded as the 
older cemetery. It 
contains a great 
number of interest- 
ing memorials of 
persons, some of 
them eminent in 
the history of State 
and nation, who 
have gone. The 
burial-lot of the 
Warren family is 
on the summit of 
Mount Warren. 
The remains of 

General Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, have been taken from the Old 
Granary Burying-ground in Boston, and reinterred in this cemetery. Within two 
or three years the finest receiving-tomb in any cemetery in the country has been 
built at Forest Hills. The portico is nearly thirty feet square, and is built in the 
Gothic style of architecture in Concord granite. Its appearance is massive, without 
being cumbersome. Within there are two hundred and eighty-six catacombs, each 
for a single coffin, which are closely sealed up after an interment. The entrance 
gateway to Forest Hills Cemetery is a very elegant, costly, and imposing structure 
of Roxbuiy stone and Caledonia freestone. The inscription upon the face of the 
outer gateway is, — 

*'l AM THE EESUREECTION AND THE LIFE," 

in golden letters. On the inner face is in similar letters the inscription, — 

'* HE THAT KEEPETH THEE WILL NOT SLUMBER." 

The grounds of the cemetery, like those of Mount Auburn, are exceedingly 
picturesque, the variety of hill and dale, greensward, thickets of trees, pleasant 
sheets of Avater, and rocky eminences, making the place an exceedingly attractive 
spot to wander and read the story of lives that are spent. And the hand of art 
has added much to the natural beauty of the place. 

It is by no means to be understood that in our glance at the suburbs Ave have 
exhausted the subject. There are a great many other points that should be visited. 
The magnificent beach in Revere is of itself a sight Avell Avorth the time spent in 



130 



BOSTON ILLUSTRATED. 



driving thither. A short visit should be made to Lynn, the head-quarters of the 
shoe manufacture, and another to the extensive factories of Lowell and Lawrence. 
In the church at Quincy are the tombs of the two Presidents Adams. Brookline, 
Newton, Belmont, and Arlington are most beautiful towns, and in all the environs 
are charming drives through the pleasantest of districts. At AVatertown is the 
great United States Arsenal ; the battle-grounds of Concord and Lexington are 
within easy reach by railroad ; and, in fact, no route can be taken out of the city 
that does not lead to. some point where the stranger will find much that is both 
pleasing and interesting. 




Cambridge : Elcctrotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co. 



INDEX TO TEXT. 



Advertiser, Boston Daily, 20. 
Albany Railroad Station, 101. 
American House, 17. 
Ancient and Honorable Artillery, '2b. 
Andrew, Statue of John A., 24. 
Area of Boston, 10. 
Arlington Street ChurcU, 33. 
Athenaeum, Boston, 43. 

Back Bav Improvement, 36. 

Baptist Church, First, 39. 

Beacon Hill, 23. 

Beethoven, Statue of, 72. 

Blaclistone, William, 1. 

Blind Asylum, 102. 

Board of Trade, 81. 

Boat- Club Union, 46. 

Boston AthenKum, 43. 

Boston and Albany Railroad Station, 101. 

Boston CoUege, 95. 

Boston, Early History of, 1. 

Boston Light, 112. 

Boston Museum, 73. 

Boston Society of Natural History, 44. 

Boston Theatre, 74. 

Boston, whv named, 1. 

Boylston Hotel, 93. 

Brattle Square Church, 19. 

Brewer Fountain, 28. 

Brookline Reservoir, 124. 

Bug Light, 113. 

Bunker Hill Monument, 117. 

Bury ing-G rounds. See each Ground. 

Business Quarter, 51. 

Cathedral of the Holy Cross, 94. 
Census of Boston, 2, 8. 
Central Church, 40. 

Club, 90. 
Changes of Topography, 3. 
Charitable Mechanics' Association, 80. 
Chester Square, 91. 
Chestnut Hill Reservoir, 126. 
Christ Church, 20. 
Church, Early Buildings, 4. 
Churches. See each Church. 
City Government inaugurated, 8. 

" Hall, 59. 

" Hospital, 97. 
Club-Houses. See each Club. 
Cochituate \yater- Works, 28, 105, 106. 124. 
Codfish, 24. .... 

Columbus Avenue, 91. 
Commerce of Boston 3. 
Commercial Street, 11. 
Common, History of, 25. 

" Boundaries of, 27. 
Commonwealth Avenue, 37. 

Hotel, 94. 
Consumptives' Home, 108. 
Continental Hotel, 93. 
Copp's Hill Burying-Ground, 16. 
Comhill, 11. 

Court House, United States, 65. 
Custom House, 62. 

Daily Advertiser, 20. 



Dorchester annexed, 102. 
Heights, 6, 7. 
2\eck, 10. 

East Boston. 10, 103, 104. 
Eastern Railroad Station, 14. 
Eliot Square, 105. 
Embargo, 7. 

Everett, Edward, Statue of, 32. 
Every Saturday, 85. 

Fanueil Hall, History of, 11. 

" Market, 12. 
First Baptist Church, 39. 

" Church, 4, 38. 
Fitchburg Railroad Station, 14. 
Flats, Reclamation of, 3. 
Forest Hills Cemetery, 128, 129. 
Fort Hill, 52. 

" Independence, 110. 

" Warren, 110. 

" Winthrop, 111. 
Fountain, Brewer, 28. 
Franklin, Benjamin, Birthplace of, 4. 

Street, 52. 
French Hotels, 92. 
Frog I'ond, 25, 28. 

Garden, Public, 30. 

Bridge, 31, 32. 
" " Pond on, 31,32. 

General Hospital, Massachusetts, 13. 
Girls' High and Normal Schoo , 92. 
Globe, Boston Daily, 77. 

'* Theatre, 75. 
Gore HalL 121. 

Granary Burying-Ground, 33. 
Grand Junction Wharves, 103, 104. 

Hall, City, 60. 

" Horticultural, 81. 

" Music, 72. 

" Odd Fellows', 97, 98. 
Hamilton, Alexander, Statue of, 37. 
Hancock House, 35. 
Hancock, Tomb of, 34. 
Harvard College, 4, 119. 
Herald, Dailv, 80, 
High Schoof, Girts', 92. 
Holy Cross, Cathedral of the, 94. 
Horticultural Hall, 81. 
Hospital, City, 97. 

" Massachusetts General, 13. 
Hotels. See each Hotel. 
HuU, 109. 

Independence, Fort, 110. 
Institute of Technology, 44. 

Jamaica Pond, 127. 128. 
Jordan. INfarsh, & Co., 82. 
Journal, Boston Daily, 79. 
Julien, the Restaurateur, 28. 

King's Chapel, 68. 

" " Burying-Ground, 68. 

Knowles, Commodore, Riot, 5. 



132 



INDEX TO TEXT. 



Land, Back Bay, filled, 36. 
Library, Tiiblic, 41. 
Lightliuuse, Boston, 112. 
Bug, 113. 
" Long Island, 113. 

Longfellow, H. W., House ol', 123. 
Long Island Light, 113. 
Lowell Railroad Station, 15. 

Maine Railroad Station, 15. 
Malconi, Captain Daniel, 17. 
Mall, Paddock's, 34, 
Malls on the Common, 29. 
Mann, Horace, Statue of, 24. 
Marine Hospital, 118. 
Market, Faneuil Hall, 12. 
" Washington, 97. 
Mason & Hamlin Organs, 82. 
Masonic Temple, 76. 
JVIassachusetts General Hospital, 13. 
Massacre, Boston, 5. 

Graves of Victims, 34. 
Mather, Tomb of, 17. 
Mayor, First, 8. 
McLean Asylum, 13. 
Meeting-House Hill, 108. 
Men in the llebellion, 8. 
Minot's Ledge, 116. 
Monument, Bunker Hill, 117. 
Ether, 32. 
" Soldiers', 29. 

Mount Auburn Chapel, 123. 

" Entrance, 123. 
Museum, Boston, 73. 
Music Hall, 72. 

Nahant, 115. 

Natural History, Boston Society of, 44. 

Navy Yard, Ctiarlestown, 118. 

Neal, Daniel, Account of Boston, 3. 

News Letter, Boston, 4. 

Nix's Mate 114. 

Noddle's Island, 10. 

North American Review, 85. 

North End, 11. 

Odd Fellows' Hall, 97, 98. 

Office, Post, New, 56, 62. 

Old Colony and Newport Railroad Station, 100, 101. 

" Comer Bookstore, 83, 84. 

" Elm, 27. 

" South Church, 58, 66. 

" State House, 5. 
Organ in Music Hall, 72. 
Osgood, J. R. & Co., 84, 85. 

Paddock's Mall, 34. 

Paddv, William, Epitaph on, 69. 

Park Street Church, 40. 

Parker House, 86, 87. 

Perkins Institution for the Blind, 102. 

Point Shirlev, 115. 

Pond in Public Garden, 31. 32. 

Population of Boston, 2, 8. 

Portraits in Faneuil Hall, 12. 

Post, Boston Daily, 77. 

" Office, New, 56, 62. 
Prang's Building, 106, 107. 
Printing Office, Rand, Avery, & Co., 21, 22. 

University, 121, 122. 
Property owned in Boston, 8. 



Providence Railroad Station, 47, 48. 
Public Garden, 30. 
" Library, 41. 
Putnam, Dr. George, Church, 105. 

Quincy Market, 12. 

Railroads. See each Railroad. 
Rand, Avery, & Co., 21, 22. 
Rebellion, Boston in the, 7. 
Reclamation of Flats, 3. 
Reservoir, Brookline, 124. 

Chestnut Hill, 126. 
Revere, Paul, 18. 

" House, 18. 
Revolution, 5. 
Ropewalks, 30. 
Roxbury amiexcd, 10, 102. 

St. James Hotel, 93. 
St. I'luil's Church, 65. 
Savin lliU, los. 
School, GirK' High, 92. 
Shawmutt, 1. 
Soldiers' ilonunient, 29. 
Somerset Club, 46. 

" Street Baptist Church, 40. 
South Boston annexed, 10. 
Spy, Massachusetts, 5. 
Stamp Act, 5. 
Stand-Pipe, 105. 
State House, 24. 

" Old, 5. 
State Street, 50. 

Block, 87. 
Statues. See each Statue. 

Tea, Destruction of, 5. 
Technology, Institute of, 44. 
Temple, 'ii-emont, 71. 
Iheatre, Boston, 74. 
Globe, 75. 

" Museum, 73. 
Ticknor House, 35. 
Town Government, 8. 
Transcript, Daily, 78. 
Traveller, Dally, 79. 
Tremont House, 49. 

" Street jMethodist Church, 96. 

" Temple, 71. 
Trimountaine, 1. 

Union Boat-Club, 46. 

" Club, 4.5. 
University Press, 121, 122. 

Valuation of Boston, 8. 

Ward, Edward, Account of Boston, 
Warren, Fort, HI. 

House, 106. 
Washington Elm, 122. 

Market, 97. 

Statue, 32, 33. 
Water-Works, Cochituate, 28. 105, 106, 124. 
Webster, Daniel, Statue of, 24. 
Welch, Bigelow, & Co., 121, 122. 
West End, 23. 
Wilson, Rev. John, 4. 
Winthrop, Fort, 110. 
" Tomb, 69. 

Witches executed, 26. 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO BUSINESS ANNOUNCEMENTS. 



Below is an index to the Business Announcements made in "Boston Illustrated" by some of the 
oldest and most reliable houses, including the leading hotels, newspapers, etc. 

Page 

ADVERTISER, BOSTON DAILY 19 

AMERICAN HOUSE 8 

BAKER (WALTER) & CO. (Chocolates) 31 

BEAL & HOOPER (Furniture) 6 

BOSTON MUSEUM 15 

BOSTON THEATRE 16 

BROOKLYN LIFE INSURANCE CO 29 

CHILSON, GARDNER (Furnaces, Kanges, &c.) 34 

COMMERCIAL BULLETIN, BOSTON 23 

CUNARD STEAMSHIP LINE 3 

DITSON & CO. (Music) 14 

GOLDTHWAIT, SNOW, & KNIGHT (Carpets) 2 

HALL, H. K. W. (Paper Dealer) 15 

HERALD, THE BOSTON 20 

HELIOTYPES OF GRAY ENGRAVINGS 33 

JORDAN, MARSH, & CO. (Dry Goods) 4 

KILBURN, S. S. (Engraver) 18 

KNICKERBOCKER LIFE INSURANCE CO 12 

MACULLAR, WILLIAMS, & PARKER (Clothiers) 5 

MASON & HAMLIN ORGAN CO 17 

MERCANTILE SAVINGS INSTITUTION 28 

MILLER, HENRY F. (Pianos) 1 

NATIONAL WATCH CO 27 

NURSERY, THE 18 

PALMER, BACHELDERS, & CO. (Jewellers) 7 

PARKER HOUSE 9 

PRANG (L.) & CO. (Chromos) 26 

RAND, AVERY, & CO. (Printers) • 25 

REVERE HOUSE 10 

RUSSELL & RICHARDSON (Engravers ......*.... 7 

SARGENT BROS. & CO. (Dry Goods) 13 

TRANSCRIPT, BOSTON DAILY EVENING 21 

TRAVELLER, BOSTON DAILY EVENING 22 

TRAVEL, FRESH BOOKS OF 32 

TREMONT HOUSE 11 

WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO. (University Press) 30 

WOODS, BENJ. O. (Novelty Printing Press) 24 



CONTENTS 



Page 
I. Boston : A Glance at its His- 

TOKY 1 

II. The Nokth End 11 

III. The West End 23 



Page 
IV. The Central District ... 61 

V. The South End 89 

VI. New Boston and the Harbor 102 
VII, The Suburbs 117 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 



Mr. Blackstone's House .... 

Map of Boston for 1722 

First Church in Boston .... 
Birthplace of Benjamin Franklin 

The Old State House 

Old House in Dock Square .... 
View of Dorchester Heights 
Boston and its Suburbs in 1872 
Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market . 
The Massachusetts (icneral Hospital . 
Eastern and Fitchburg Railroad Stations 
Boston and Lowell Railroad Station . 

Haymarket Square 

Copp's Hill Burying-Ground .... 

American House 

Revere House 

Brattle Square Church .... 
Christ Church, Salem Street .... 
Boston Daily Advertiser .... 
View at the head of Washington Street 

The Andrew Statue 

The Frog Pond 

The Old Elm, Boston Common . 

The Brewer Fountain 

Beacon Street Mall 

The Public Garden from Arlington Street . 
The Pond, Public Garden .... 
The Bridge, Public Garden .... 

The Everett Statue 

The Washington Statue 

Entrance to the Granary Burving-Ground 
The Old Hancock House I . . . 
Mr. Prescott's Residence, Beacon Street . 

Commonwealth Avenue 

First Church, Berkeley Street . 

Arlington Street Church 

Somerset Street, with Church . 

Park Street Church 

Central Church, Berkeley Street 

Boston Public Library 

Boston Athena? um 

Society of Natural History and Institute 

Technology 

View of Park Street 

Beacon Street. — The Somerset Club . 
Union Boat-Clnb, Charles River 
Providence Railroad Station .... 

Tremont House 

View at the head of State Street . 
The Rebuilding of Pearl Street . 
View of Franklin Street before the Fire 
The Spot where the Fire began . 
The Post-Offlce as a Burner to the Fire 

City Hall 

Custom House 

The New Post-Offlce 

St. Paul's Church and the U. S. Court House 

Old South Church 

King's Chapel 

The Ruins, with Trinity Church in the Fore 

ground 

Tremont Temple 

The Organ in Music Hall 

Boston JIuseum 

Boston Theatre 

Globe Theatre before the Fire of May 30 
Masonic Temple 



of 



Boston Post 76 

View in Washington Street : Globe Office . .77 
Washington Street : Transcript Office before 

the Fire ••..-.... 78 
View in Washington Street : Journal Office . 79 

The Boston Herald 80 

Mechanics' Building 81 

Horticultural Hall and Studio Building . . 81 
View in Tremont Street : Mason <fc Hamlin's . 82 
Jordan, Marsh, & Co. 's Building ... 83 

Old Corner Bookstore 84 

James R. Osgood <k Co.'s Building ... 84 
INlacullar, Williams, & Parker's Building . . 85 
Mercantile Savings Institution ... 86 

The Parker House 87 

State Street Block 88 

View in Chester Square 89 

View of Boston from Tremont Street near 

Chester Park 90 

Girls' High and NoiTnal School . . . .91 
Washington Street, with Continental Hotel . 92 

Hotel Boylston 93 

St. James Hotel 94 

Cathedral of the Holy Cross .... 94 
Church of the Immaculate Conception and 

Boston College 95 

Methodist Church, Tremont Street . . . 96 

City Hospital 97 

Wasliington Market 98 

Odd Fellows' Building 98 

Central Club 99 

Boston and Albany Railroad . . . .100 
Old Colony Railroad Station .... lol 
Perkins Institution for the Blind . . .103 
Grand Junction Wharves, East Boston . . 104 
First Church in Roxbury, and Norfolk House 105 
Stand-Pipe of Cochituate Water-Works . 106 

Warren House 106 

L. Prang & Co.'s Art Publishing House . 107 

Meeting-House Hill 107 

Savin Hill, from Old Colony Railroad . . 108 
Consumptives' Home, Dorchester . . . 109 

View of Hull 110 

Fort Independence Ill 

FortWinthrop Ill 

Fort Warren, Boston Harbor .... 112 

Boston Light 113 

Bug Light 113 

Long Island Light 114 

Nix's Mate 114 

Point Shirley 115 

Bunker Hill Monument 117 

The Navy Yard, from East Boston . . .118 

Gore Hall, Harvard College 119 

View of Harvard College: The Quadrangle . 1'20 
The University Press, Cambridge . . . 121 
The Washington Elm, Cambridge . . . 122 
Residence of H. W. Longfellow .... 122 
Entrance to Mount Auburn .... 123 

Chapel, Mount Auburn ?23 

Entrance to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir . 124 
The Drive, showing the large Reservoir . . 125 
Gate House, Chestnut Hill .... 126 
The Drive on the Margin of the small Reservoir 126 
Jamaica Pond, North View .... 127 

Jamaica Pond, South Side 128 

Entrance to Forest HiUa 129 



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